Be aware of road delays and closures.
Here’s the map of the bike course:
http://www.ironman.com/~/media
Basically, the riders are coming from the riverfront to the southside on Market St, where they will take up one side of the road, across 40th St (by the Post Office and Rec Center) where the road will be CLOSED ALL DAY, south on Tennessee Ave to 45th, across 45th by the Baptist Church, and then south on St Elmo into Georgia. On the return trip, it’s exactly the same in the other direction.
Ironman riders will be coming through pretty much all day, starting as early as 8:00-8:15 am and finishing as late as 7:30 pm.
You really want to plan your driving as much as possible AROUND the course, not THROUGH the course.
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Thank you, Mr. Cross, for your As for getting places...
If you need to go someplace first thing in the morning, I'd recommend getting out by 8:00 if you can. You shouldn't have much trouble. If you're heading downtown, just go down Broad St. There will be police at 20th directing traffic. Before 8:00 you shouldn't have any trouble getting across. After 8:00 they will be waving traffic through, but eventually it will be getting backed up. So you may consider getting on I-24 or Hwy 27 on Broad to get downtown that way even if you'd normally take the surface roads. Between 11:00 and 12:00 things should be pretty clear, and then probably pretty backed up again all afternoon, in terms of crossing the course at 20th or anywhere along Market. Remember that you can’t use 40th to get to Market St at all, all day.
If you need to leave St Elmo during the race:
If you live north of 45th or west of St Elmo Ave (e.g. you live anywhere on the Alabama side, or on the north end of SEA or behind the Incline) then just head out Broad and consider getting on I-24/US27 if you need to cross the course.
If you live south of 45th and east of SEA (e.g. on Florida, Beulah, or TN Ave past 45th), then you can carefully cross SEA during the race and head out Alabama if you prefer - and there will be police at some of the intersections. But personally I'd recommend going south on Tennessee and bearing left on Lee Ave, which keeps bearing to the left and becomes Central Ave. Take that down to 38th St in Alton Park. From there you could head over to Rossville Blvd where there will be no race traffic, or you could get on Alton Park Blvd / Market St, where the racers will have a dedicated lane and there will be traffic in the other lane. Even when the racers are headed north as they finish the race, they will be in their dedicated lane on the LEFT side of the road. Still though, I personally would steer clear and head out via Rossville Blvd.
If you’re on the north end of Hawkins Ridge (e.g. Seneca/Westridge area), I would recommend taking Seneca all the way to TN Ave, which is just south of the turn onto 45th. It will be more difficult and dangerous to try to take the jog across TN on 43rd.
If you need to get out to Chickamauga or Fort Oglethorpe, I recommend avoiding 193. You can go out Lee Ave (off Tennessee) to Central Ave to Workman Rd to Wilson Rd / Happy Valley Rd. to get to 2A easily. Or any number of other ways - Burnt Mill to Salem Rd, or Rossville Blvd to McFarland. Avoid GA 341 (Cove Rd) at all cost!
If you have a driveway on St Elmo Ave between 45th and 57th or on Tennessee between 40th and 45th, I'd highly recommend that you get your vehicle out of your driveway before 8:00 am and park it on the nearest side street (unless that side street actually IS 45th, in which case I'd go down to 46th!) That would be the safest thing to do. St Elmo Ave will be open to traffic all day, but police will be prioritizing race traffic, and it is likely to be a mess.
Here's a link to the map of the bike course (same as above), in case you are the sort of person who needs a visual:
http://www.ironman.com/~/media
Here's the Spectator Guide:
http://www.ironman.com/triathl
And the official "Traffic Impact" Guide:
http://www.ironman.com/triathl
These all came from the main site at
http://www.ironman.com/triathl
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