Ironman California to shut down Sacramento streets and freeway ramps. Where to avoid

Brianna Taylor
·2 min read
8

Several Sacramento streets and freeways will shut down this week as thousands of athletes race, bike, and swim to the finish line of the 2023 Kaiser Permanente Ironman California.

One of the few Ironman triathlons in the country — and the only one in California — kicks off Sunday with a 2.4-mile swim through the American and Sacramento rivers, a 112-mile flat bike ride around the Delta and a 26.2-mile run back to downtown. Some streets will close as early as Thursday, according to the city of Sacramento.

Registration for the race is sold out.

The event, part of the VinFast U.S. series, will be the city’s second Ironman triathlon. Last year’s highly anticipated debut brought roughly 4,000 participants to Sacramento after the 2021 event was canceled due to intense rain showers from a “bomb cyclone.”

Kim Urmaza of Salt Lake City waits to start the Ironman California triathlon on Sunday, Oct. 23, 2022, in Sacramento.
Kim Urmaza of Salt Lake City waits to start the Ironman California triathlon on Sunday, Oct. 23, 2022, in Sacramento.

The annual event will be held in Sacramento at least through 2028 after the city signed a multiyear agreement last summer to extend its original three-year partnership with Ironman. The race offers registered competitors a slot at the Ironman World Championship in Hawai’i and France next year.

Here’s which streets and freeways will be closed for the race on Sunday:

Ironman California 2023 street closures

Several streets will close for the race, some for multiple days. Here’s where, according to the city of Sacramento:

STARTING THURSDAY

  • Capitol Mall, from Fifth Street to Ninth Street: 8 a.m. Thursday to 1 p.m. Monday

STARTING SUNDAY

  • Tower Bridge, from Riverfront Street to Front Street: 7 a.m. to 11 a.m.

  • Front Street (Old Sacramento), from I Street to Neasham Circle: 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m.

  • Neasham Circle, from Front Street (Old Sacramento) to Front Street: 10:30 am to 11:30 p.m.

  • Front Street (southbound), from Neasham Circle to Broadway: 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m.

  • Jibboom Street Bridge (eastbound), from Sacramento River Bike Trail to Natomas Park Drive: 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m.

  • R Street, from Second Street to Seventh Street: 11 a.m. to 12:30 a.m.

  • Seventh Street, from R Street to N Street: 11 a.m. to 12:30 a.m.

  • N Street, from Seventh Street to 13th Street: 11 a.m. to 1:30 a.m.

  • L Street, from Ninth Street to 15th Street: 11 a.m. to 2 a.m.

  • Ninth Street, from L Street to N Street: 11 a.m. to 2 a.m.

Ironman California 2023 freeway closures

Both the Highway 50 off ramp westbound on Fifth Street and the Highway 50 on ramp eastbound on River Road near 15th Street will be closed from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sunday.

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