10/22/21

Roads closures in Grand Rapids area due to River Bank Run Saturday.

GRAND RAPIDS, MI --(Mlive) -  A number of roads throughout downtown Grand Rapids and west of the Grand River will be temporarily closed Saturday morning for the 44th Amway River Bank Run.

Some of the road closures downtown could begin as early as 2 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 23, said Russ Hines, CEO of River Bank Events and Media. Roads in neighborhoods on the city’s West Side will close around 7 a.m.

Most of the closures will be lifted by or before 2 p.m., Hines said. The downtown road closures won’t lift until after 2 p.m.

Roads closed are those used as the 5K, 10K and 25K courses. Those races all begin at or before 9:30 a.m. Saturday.

Maps of the courses can be found at runsignup.com/Race/CourseMaps/MI/GrandRapids/AmwayRiverBankRun.

Some major roadways that will be impacted include: Pearl Street at Monroe and Ottawa avenues; Fulton Street between Ottawa and Winter avenues; Wealthy Street at Market Avenue. Lake Michigan Drive between Winter and Valley Avenues; all of Butterworth Avenue in the city; Ionia Avenue between Monroe Center and Division Avenue, the 6th Street Bridge and Scribner Avenue between 6th Street and Pearl Street.

The 25K course starts on Monroe Avenue at Lyon Street before turning west onto Fulton Street, then heads north after the river and onto Lake Michigan Drive. From there it goes south on Valley Avenue, east through neighborhoods and then out near Millennium Park by way of Butterworth Street.

It comes back into the city on Butterworth Street before connecting onto Wealthy Street, south on Market Avenue and then winding back north, eventually ending on Ottawa Avenue at Lyon Street.

The Saturday races will be the first in-person Amway River Bank Run since May 2019.

Due to the pandemic, the event was held virtually in 2020. This year, it was postponed from May to the October date due to pandemic concerns.