Weekend transit roundup: The Broad Street Run and more

Welcome back to Curbed Philly’s new Weekend Transit Roundup—a look at all the major events, transportation issues and closures that will likely affect your travel this weekend.

This weekend promises some killer events: Cinco de Mayo is Saturday, the weather is finally nice (although that remains to be seen this weekend), and Philadelphians are taking to the streets for festivals, good food and one big race down Broad. Here’s how to get around this weekend, including what streets you might want to avoid (or at least be prepared for) and how to travel to the must-see happenings.

Events: Broad Street Race and block parties

The weekend kicks off with the annual South Street Spring Festival, which runs from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and brings with it a lot of closures and parking restrictions. Second, 5th and 6th streets will all be closed from Lombard to Bainbridge, while the main drag—South Street—will be closed all the way from Front to 8th. Parking will be restricted or banned in the area, and any cars that violate the restrictions will be moved by the Philly Parking Authority.

If you’re eager to make it to the festival, you can take the Broad Street Line (BSL) to South Street and walk down, or catch the 40, 45 or 47, which all run to the area.

Move over to Center City, where you’ll find El Rey’s Cinco de Mayo Street Festival, which features food, drinks and music. Also featured? Closed streets. Specifically, Ranstead Street from 20th to 21st. Even though that’s just a block, you’ll want to be careful driving in the area, as a lot of people are expected at the event.

There’s one event this weekend that trumps all else in terms of size and scale—the Blue Cross Broad Street Run, on Sunday morning. Tons of people will flood down to Broad Street to watch runners travel from around Olney Avenue down to the Navy Yard, starting at 8 a.m.

But you can expect streets to be affected a lot sooner than that. The first section of Broad down to Windrim Avenue, will be closed starting at 4 a.m. The remainder of Broad will be closed at 7 a.m. If you need to cross the city during that time, your best bet is to hop on the highway and take I-76, I-95 or I-676

Sports: The Celtics v. the 76ers

Be careful getting on the BSL this Saturday—it’ll likely be packed with sports fans. The well-known rivalry between the Celtics and the 76ers is heating up Saturday night, when they’ll be playing against each other at the Wells Fargo Center at 5 p.m.

On Saturday you can also expect another beloved event—the city’s monster truck jam at 7 p.m. at the Lincoln Financial Field.

Roadwork: Lincoln Drive resurfacing project

Luckily, there aren’t too many new roadwork projects popping up this weekend, but there are some ongoing ones to keep an eye out for.

First, there’s the street resurfacing project on Buist Avenue, Lindbergh Boulevard, and Mario Lanza Boulevard, which is expected to restrict parking. The project runs between 7 p.m. and 5 a.m. every night until May 11.

Also, there’s a VisionZero project on South Broad Street near the Walnut-Locust station. It’s meant to improve pedestrian safety, but could cause some congestion while under construction.

Finally, a long-awaited project to resurface and restore Lincoln Drive between Ridge and Wayne avenues just started Monday. Drivers can expect some lane closures, but minimal delays during the day, according to the Philly Streets Department. However, they should get ready for total road closures from 9p.m. to 6 a.m. The project is expected to finish in 2019.

Public transit:

SEPTA is rebuilding the mainline infrastructure on the Media/Elwyn Line this weekend and next, meaning that anyone riding the line will be taking a shuttle bus instead. The schedules for the shuttle bus will be different from the train schedules so plan ahead by checking out the SEPTA schedule here.

A train derailment in Delaware County Thursday had a ripple effect for commuters on the Newark/Wilmington Regional Rail Line. It’s an effect that will continue this weekend, with a special train schedule for the line starting Friday. That schedule will remain in place for the foreseeable future.