nyc marathon
Director and New York City Marathon grand marshal Spike Lee (center) paints the finish line Friday with New York Police Department Commissioner William J. Bratton (fifth right) and Peter Ciaccia (fifth left), New York Road Runners president of events, in Central Park for Sunday's race in New York. Reuters

The New York City Marathon is expected to bring some 50,000 runners to the city Sunday. It's a festive affair, but also one that creates headaches for drivers and pedestrians alike as large swaths of the city's roads are shut down.

The marathon is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. EST at the foot of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in Staten Island. From there, the runners make their way through the other four boroughs of New York City. The lion's share of the race will take place in Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan, with a brief jog into the Bronx that U-turns back into Manhattan. The finish line is in Central Park.

With this meandering path through New York City come myriad road closures. For the complete list, along with the exact times each portion of which road will be closed, check out the marathon's website. For a breakdown of the road closures by borough, check out Gothamist.

Closures are expected to begin at midnight on Saturday, with the upper level of the Verrazano Bridge being shut down until 3 p.m. Portions of roads in Central Park will be closed all day and buses will be unable to cross Fifth Avenue during the entirety of the race.

More than 1 million spectators are expected to watch the marathon. There are also a handful of other events adding to the flood of people moving about New York City that are expected to make the weekend even more troublesome for commuters. The World Series will be in town as the New York Mets take on the Kansas City Royals at Citi Field in Queens. Games are scheduled to take place Friday, Saturday and, if the Mets force a Game 5, Sunday. On top of that, Greenwich Village is hosting its Halloween Parade Saturday. The city's roadways will likely be a mess.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority provided some good advice. If at all possible, take public transportation, MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz told amNew York.

For more information, check out the course marathon map here or watch the video outlining the planned route below:

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