ING Marathon to jam streets Sunday

Numerous streets from downtown Atlanta to Decatur will be closed Sunday morning and afternoon for the ING Georgia Marathon and Half Marathon.

The state Department of Transportation issued a traffic alert for streets along the route from 5 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday.

The wheelchair half-marathon begins at 6:55 a.m., with the starting gun for the marathon and half marathon scheduled to go off at 7:04.

The race starts at Centennial Olympic Park, and goes by Georgia State University and the Boisfeuillet Jones Atlanta Civic Center before heading through the Martin Luther King Jr. Historic District and the Old Fourth Ward and Inman Park neighborhoods.

The course continues through Little 5 Points to the Poncey-Highland neighborhood, where the half marathons participants will split from those running the full marathon.

The marathon course continues through the Candler Park neighborhood, past Agnes Scott College and the Decatur Square, through the Emory University campus and the Druid Hills neighborhood before rejoining the half marathon course on Highland Avenue.

Runners will then go through the Virginia-Highland neighborhood and Piedmont Park, cross the Downtown Connector on the 5th Street bridge and run through the Georgia Tech campus before returning to the finish line at Centennial Olympic Park.

Organizers are expecting 15,000 runners and another 45,000 spectators, and the DOT is urging participants and spectators to take MARTA rather than drive downtown on Sunday.

MARTA rail service will begin at 5 a.m. Sunday, with additional trains to handle the expected crowds.

For the specific route see the marathon Web site, www.inggeorgiamarathon.com .