Dublin Marathon 2026: Full list of road closures, Luas, bus and DART changes

The Dublin Marathon is here, with thousands of runners making lacing up for the annual 42km race.

22,500 people will be striding through the streets of Dublin. As usual, this will cause a series of traffic changes and public transport diversions for much of the weekend.

From early morning until late evening on Sunday, major road closures will be in place across Dublin city and county.

Some roads will be closed from Friday onwards to accommodate the build-up and breakdown of the event.

For starters, from 10am on Friday until 2pm on Monday, Merrion Square South will be closed.

From 6am on Saturday to 8pm on Sunday, the following roads will also be closed: Mount Street Crescent, Merrion Square East, Fitzwilliam Street Lower to Baggot Street, Fitzwilliam Street Lower to Baggotrath Place, and Herbert Street.

From 3.30am to 11am on marathon day, these roads are closed: Merrion Street Upper, Merrion Row, Pembroke Street Lower, Lad Lane (no exit onto Baggot Street), and Lad Lane Upper.

The following roads will be then be closed from 3.30am to 1pm on Sunday: Fitzwilliam Square East, Fitzwilliam Place, Fitzwilliam Square North, Fitzwilliam Square South, Fitzwilliam Street Upper, Fitzwilliam Square West, Cumberland Road, Wilton Terrace, Wilton Place, Clanwilliam Place, Baggot Street Lower, Leeson Street Lower, and Hatch Street.

Closures extending from the same time until 5.30pm include: Verchoyle Place, Grattan Street and Court, Wilson’s Place and Grants Row, Fitzwilliam Lane, Baggot Place, Pembroke Row, Hagans Court, Mount Street Lower, Fitzwilliam Street Lower, Stephen’s Place, Stephen’s Lane, and James Street East.

The road closures extending further until 8pm are: Merrion Square North, Nassau Street, Kildare Street, Clare Street, Warrington Place, Merrion Square West, Herbert Place, Herbert Street, Herbert Lane, Powers Court, Holles Street (no through traffic to Merrion Square), and Percy Place.

Finally, from 7am to 11am on Sunday, St Stephen’s Green South, St Stephen’s Green North, and Earlsfort Terrace are closed.

Meanwhile, several bus routes will be affected by the closure of Merrion Square South and East, such as the 15a and 15b.

Heading towards Merrion Square these routes will divert via College street, Grafton Street, Nassau Street, Kildare Street, Merrion Row, Merrion Street Upper and terminate at Natural History Museum.

In the other direction towards Limekiln Avenue, they will depart at Merrion Square West, divert via Clare Street and head back onto the normal route.

Also stopping at the Natural History Museum will be routes 19, 23 and 24.

Routes 4, 7 and 7a will be slightly affected during the marathon, while the 11 and 14 will have no service before 11am.

Other routes affected include: 11b, 13, 15, 15a, 15b, 16, 27, 37, 38, 38a, 39, 39a, 44, 47, 52, 56a, 60, 65, 65b, 68, 69, 70, 74, 77a, 80, 82, 99, 122, 150, 151, C1, C2, C3, C4, E1, E2, F1, F2, F3, G1, G2, and S2.

There will also be a temporary partial closure on Luas Red Line, with no services operating between Heuston and Connolly from around 8.45am to 10.45am on Sunday.

Red Line services will only run between Tallaght/Saggart and Heuston during this time.

Due to it also being a bank holiday weekend, there will be no DART services operating between Connolly and Howth/Malahide.

 *This article was originally published on Extra.ie.