On Sunday, November 1, nearly 60,000 runners take the TCS New York City Marathon through all five boroughs. This year it is the 50th anniversary of the five-borough course, first run on October 24, 1976, and the course changes for the first time in 15 years.
Moving on NYC Marathon Sunday is the other way to spend the day, and it works. We move that Sunday. The trick is knowing where the course runs, roughly when each part closes, and which side of it your boxes are on. So here is the course, mile by mile, from the point of view of a moving truck.
One more thing about moving on NYC Marathon Sunday: the clocks fall back at 2 a.m. that morning. Everyone gets an extra hour. The runners spend it stretching. You can spend it taping boxes. Our guide to moving in NYC in November covers what else changes once the clocks go back.
Moving on NYC Marathon Sunday: the short version
- The good news about moving on NYC Marathon Sunday: most moves never touch the course. If neither address is on it and your route does not cross it, it is almost always an easy Sunday.
- Four things change the plan: a building on the course, a route that has to cross it, a move on Staten Island, or the Verrazzano or Queensboro bridge on your route. If your date is flexible and you are near the course, Saturday or Monday is easier. If it is not, we will get you through it.
- The city has not published its 2026 closure list yet (it usually lands in the last week of October), so the times below come from the official 2025 list. We will update this post when the city’s list is out. Streets reopen on a rolling basis as the last runners pass, and the city says times can change without notice.
NYC Marathon street closures, mile by mile
Miles 0 to 2: Staten Island and the Verrazzano
The race starts at Fort Wadsworth and spends its first two miles on the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, where no spectators are allowed. Last year the bridge’s upper level closed at 11 p.m. on Saturday, the lower level at 7 a.m. on Sunday, and both stayed closed until 4 p.m. The streets around the start were closed from 5 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Truck translation: if you planned on moving on NYC Marathon Sunday on Staten Island, or across the Verrazzano, make it Saturday or Monday instead.
Miles 2 to 13: Brooklyn, the long way round
Brooklyn gets the biggest share of the race. Runners come off the bridge in Bay Ridge, head up Fourth Avenue through Sunset Park and along Park Slope, turn onto Flatbush and Lafayette Avenues through Fort Greene and Clinton Hill, run up Bedford Avenue through Williamsburg, and leave the borough on Manhattan Avenue and McGuinness Boulevard in Greenpoint. Last year all of it was closed from 7 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Truck translation: Fourth Avenue becomes a wall from Bay Ridge to Atlantic Avenue, and Bedford Avenue does the same in Williamsburg. Near the course, even on one side of it, Saturday or Monday is easier. Moving on NYC Marathon Sunday can still work if the truck never has to cross the course or park on it. NYRR’s pedestrian crossing zones at Lafayette and Fulton and at Bedford and Broadway are for spectators. A dresser is not a spectator.
Miles 13 to 16: Queens, our home stretch
The Pulaski Bridge carries runners into Long Island City at the halfway mark. They wind along 48th Avenue, Vernon Boulevard, 44th Drive and Crescent Street to Queens Plaza, an eight-minute walk from our base, then climb onto the Queensboro Bridge. Last year the Queens streets were closed from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Truck translation: from 6:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. last year, the Queensboro’s lower level was closed to all traffic and its upper level to trucks, so a truck could not use it at all. If you are moving on NYC Marathon Sunday from Queens to Manhattan, the truck takes another crossing, and we plan it the night before.
Miles 16 to 20: First Avenue
Runners come off the bridge at 59th Street into one of the loudest crowds of the day and run up First Avenue to 125th Street. Last year First Avenue was closed from 7 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., several FDR Drive exits between 63rd and 125th Street closed on and off from 8:45 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., and parking on First Avenue from 58th to 125th Street was banned from Saturday.
Truck translation: the Upper East Side east of First Avenue is hard to reach for most of Sunday. Because the no-parking rule starts a day early, a Saturday move on First Avenue needs a side-street spot for the truck. The crossing zones at 69th, 72nd, 83rd and 86th Streets are for spectators too.
Miles 20 to 21: the Bronx, with new streets this year
Mile 20 is the Willis Avenue Bridge, and this is where 2026 is different. After the bridge, runners take East 135th Street and Alexander Avenue, stay on Alexander past East 138th Street, turn left on East 141st Street, left on Third Avenue and right on East 138th Street to the Madison Avenue Bridge. NYRR says the change is meant to reduce the race’s impact on the Bronx.
Truck translation: for anyone moving on NYC Marathon Sunday in Mott Haven, Alexander Avenue north of East 138th Street, East 141st Street and a stretch of Third Avenue are new to the course. East 138th Street between Alexander and Third, and the old loop on Morris Avenue, East 140th Street and Rider Avenue, are off it. Last year the Bronx course streets were closed from 7 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. and both bridges from 7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., so expect similar hours until the city confirms them.
Miles 21 to 26.2: Harlem, Fifth Avenue and the park
Back into Manhattan over the Madison Avenue Bridge, south on Fifth Avenue through Harlem, around Marcus Garvey Park and down Fifth to 90th Street, where the course enters Central Park. Runners leave the park at Central Park South, cross to Columbus Circle and finish near Tavern on the Green. Last year Fifth Avenue was closed from 9 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. and Central Park South from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Central Park West was closed from Columbus Circle to 81st Street from midnight to 10:30 p.m., and from 77th to 86th Street from 6 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Columbus Avenue and Broadway were closed from 59th to 77th Street from 6 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Truck translation: the Upper West Side from Columbus Circle to 77th Street, and Central Park West up to 86th, is a Saturday or Monday move. So is Fifth Avenue from 90th Street up through Harlem.
If your lease says November 1
Leases do not read race calendars. If yours ends October 31 or starts November 1, this is how moving on NYC Marathon Sunday works with us:
- Send us both addresses early. We check every job’s route the night before, and on Marathon Sunday we check it against the course too. If yours goes better on another day, we will tell you up front.
- Your route crosses the course: we route around it. On last year’s list, the bridges closed to trucks were the Verrazzano, the Pulaski, the Queensboro, the Willis Avenue and the Madison Avenue. The other East River bridges and the tunnels were not on it.
- Your building is on the course: the truck cannot park at your door while the street is closed. The fix is to split the move. We load the day before, keep everything on our truck overnight and deliver once the street reopens. That is our overnight service, and it costs extra. Need a longer gap? Our storage holds it and delivers as soon as the next day.
- Moving Saturday instead? Mostly fine, with three catches. Last year the Dash to the Finish Line 5K, the day before the marathon, closed parts of 42nd Street, Sixth Avenue and Central Park South until about 10:30 a.m. First Avenue from 42nd to 47th Street and a block of 47th Street were closed that Saturday too. The no-parking rules were already up on First Avenue from 58th to 125th Street, most of Central Park West, the side streets from 61st to 77th between Central Park West and Broadway, and Fifth Avenue from 86th to 96th. And it is Halloween, so the Village parade takes over Sixth Avenue in the evening.
- Check your building’s rules before moving on NYC Marathon Sunday. Some NYC buildings do not allow Sunday moves at all, marathon or not. If yours does, book the elevator and get the certificate of insurance approved the week before.
Marathon Sunday is the biggest closure of the fall, not the only one. Our fall moving calendar has every date that slows a move between now and Thanksgiving.
Get a quote for moving on NYC Marathon Sunday
The fastest way to price a move is a photo or a link. Send us the listing, a few photos of the rooms or links to the big pieces, plus both addresses. We can usually send back a flat rate the same day, with a straight answer on whether moving on NYC Marathon Sunday works for your route. Use our free quote form or email info@magicalmovingnyc.com.
Running it yourself and moving the same week? Book the move a few days after the race. Your legs will thank you, and so will your couch.
You run the 26.2. We will take the couch.
Magical Moving & Storage, Long Island City. USDOT 4144902.
