D.C. cherry blossom runs: Road closures planned near downtown, Mall

From left, Susanna Sullivan, Paige Stoner, Sarah Pagano, Carrie Verdon, Kim Conley run in the 2022 Cherry Blossom 10-Mile Run. Sullivan won the race. (Dani Seiss/The Washington Post)

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Drivers will encounter delays this weekend around downtown D.C. and the Mall for the Cherry Blossom 5K Run/Walk and the Cherry Blossom 10-Mile Race. Officials cautioned that crowds are likely again around the Tidal Basin to see blooms that are past their peak.

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The Cherry Blossom 5K Run/Walk will start at 9:15 a.m. Saturday at Freedom Plaza, traveling mostly along Pennsylvania Avenue. Organizers said runners must be off the course no later than 10:30 a.m. Registration for the event is closed.

The Cherry Blossom 10-Mile Race will be Sunday, starting at 7:30 a.m. on the Washington Monument grounds.

The National Park Service also warned that while cherry blossoms are past peak bloom, crowds are still expected this weekend around the Tidal Basin. The Park Service urged visitors to take Metro.

Hundreds of thousands of visitors streamed into the Tidal Basin area last weekend to see cherry blossoms in peak bloom, overwhelming public transit and roads in and out of Washington. Metro recorded its busiest Sunday since 2015.

D.C. police said the following streets will be closed to vehicle traffic from about 2 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday for the Cherry Blossom 5K Run/Walk:

• Pennsylvania Avenue from Ninth Street to 14th Street NW

• 13th Street from E Street to Pennsylvania Avenue NW

• 12th Street from E Street to Constitution Avenue NW

• 11th Street from E Street to Pennsylvania Avenue NW

• 10th Street from E Street to Constitution Avenue NW

The following streets will be closed to vehicle traffic from about 8:15 a.m. to 11 a.m. Saturday:

• Pennsylvania Avenue from Third Street to Ninth Street NW

• Ninth Street from E Street to Constitution Avenue NW

• D Street from Eighth Street to Ninth Street NW

• Seventh Street from Indiana Avenue to Constitution Avenue NW

• Sixth Street from C Street to Constitution Avenue NW

• Constitution Avenue from Third Street to Seventh Street NW

• Third Street from C Street, NW to Virginia Avenue SW

• Independence Avenue from Washington Avenue to Seventh Street SW

• Fourth Street from Pennsylvania Avenue, NW to Virginia Avenue SW

• D Street from Third Street to Fourth Street SW

• Sixth Street from Independence Avenue to Maryland Avenue SW

The Cherry Blossom 10-Mile Race will take place the next day. The following streets will be closed to traffic on Sunday from about 6 a.m. to noon, according to U.S. Park Police:

• Memorial Bridge

• Memorial Circle

• Rock Creek Parkway South of Virginia Avenue

• Ohio Drive from 23rd Street to Inlet Bridge

• West Basin Drive

• East Basin Drive

• East Potomac Park

• West Potomac Park

• Hains Point

• 15th Street from Constitution Avenue to Independence Avenue

• 17th Street from Constitution Avenue to Independence Avenue

• Independence Ave from 14th Street to 23rd Street

• Jefferson Drive from 14th to 15th Street

• Madison Drive from 14th to 15th Street

• Raoul Wallenberg Place

• Maine Avenue from 395/695 to East Basin Drive

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