November 23, 2016
Plan on driving in Philadelphia during Thanksgiving? There are a handful of roads you're going to want to avoid.
It's all outlined in the city's full road closure schedule released Tuesday, days ahead of Philadelphia's 97th Annual Thanksgiving Day Parade.
The parade will start at 20th Street and John F. Kennedy Boulevard and will move eastbound toward 16th Street, northbound to the Benjamin Franklin Parkway toward Eakins Oval and will end at the Philadelphia Museum of Art near Kelly Drive and the Spring Garden Extension.
Eakins Oval between Kelly Drive and Martin Luther King Drive will be closed until 3 p.m. Wednesday for rehearsals.
Parking restrictions near the parade route will also start Wednesday at 6 p.m. and are noted with "temporary no parking" signs.
Eakins Oval will close again at 6:30 p.m., while the inbound lanes of JFK Boulevard from 20th Street to Schuylkill Avenue will close at 7 p.m. Wednesday until the end of the parade. The outbound lanes of JFK Boulevard from 20th Street to Schuylkill Avenue will also close at 9 p.m. Wednesday until the end of Thursday's parade.
Starting at 2 a.m. Thursday, 20th Street will close from JFK Boulevard to Market Street, while Arch Sreet to Cherry Street will close at 5 a.m. Thursday.
Cars looking to take 20th Street from Market Street to the Parkway will need to find an alternate route starting at 6 a.m. The entire parade route will then be shut down for motorists starting at 8 a.m. Thursday.
The parade lasts from 8:30 a.m. until noon.
Visit Philly has also put together an interactive parade route map, shown below, of all the best places to catch a glimpse of the nation's oldest Thanksgiving Day parade.
