If you’re staying in the Baltimore area for Thanksgiving this year, prepare for traffic jams and parking difficulties.

The city will shut down roads for holiday festivities on Thursday as well as the Baltimore Ravens home game against the Cincinnati Bengals. The day’s events, alongside the over one million Marylanders heading out for Thanksgiving celebrations, could jam up traffic and complicate parking around the Baltimore area.

The morning kicks off at 8:30 a.m. with the YMCA’s Turkey Trot Charity 5K. The race starts at the Weinberg Y in Waverly, extends down the westbound lanes of East 33rd Street, then loops around Lake Montebello to go back to the Weinberg Y.

Throughout the race, from 8:30-10:30 a.m., these detours and parking restrictions will be in effect:

• Westbound East 33rd Street closed from Hillen Road to Ellerslie Avenue.
• Whitman Drive closed from 33rd Street to the Herring Run Trail.
• Curran Drive closed from 33rd Street to the Herring Run Trail.

Officers may make temporary traffic stops during the race for the safety of the runners. There will also be turkey trot races in Towson, Annapolis, Ellicott City, Bel Air and Westminster on Thanksgiving.

There may be some increased traffic as visitors flock to the Christmas Village along the Inner Harbor, which will be open from noon to 5 p.m. on Thanksgiving.

Later on, the Ravens will kick off against the Bengals at 8:20 p.m. The city will start closing roads for the game around 5:20 p.m. The following closures will be in effect.

• The northbound Russell Street Service Drive alongside M&T Bank Stadium will be closed between West and Hamburg streets prior to and during the game.
• The Hamburg Street Bridge will be temporarily closed between Leaden Hall and Paca streets for game ingress. Once the game begins, the closures will be removed until the start of the fourth quarter for egress.
• The Ostend Street Bridge will be temporarily closed between Sharp and Warner streets for game ingress. Once the game begins, the closures will be removed until the start of the fourth quarter for egress.
• A special traffic pattern will be temporarily installed along Warner Street between the Ostend Street Bridge and Stockholm Street for ingress and railroad crossings.
• Special traffic patterns will be installed along Warner, Alluvion, Worcester streets, and Bayard Street for egress at the start of the fourth quarter.
• Hamburg Street will be closed between Hanover and Charles streets for egress at the start of the fourth quarter.
• No southbound travel will be permitted along Hanover Street between Henrietta and Hamburg streets at the start of the fourth quarter. All traffic will be diverted onto Henrietta Street for east- or westbound travel. 
• Warner Street is also closed between Worcester and W. Ostend streets because of construction. A one-way ingress (northbound) and egress (southbound) lane will be implemented on Warner Street, along with a pedestrian walkway.

Other downtown lane and road closures scheduled this week that could impact your commute include:

• Guilford Avenue lane closure (full-time) between Preston and Biddle streets (BGE pipeline project).
• Guilford Avenue reduced to one travel lane (full-time) between East Lexington and East Fayette streets.
• Monument Street lane closure (full-time) between Guilford Avenue and North Calvert Street through fall 2025 (BGE pipeline project).
• Maryland Avenue reduced to one travel lane (full-time) between Interstate 83 and Oliver Street (BGE pipeline project).
• North Charles Street right lane closure (full-time) between Saratoga and Pleasant streets through December 2025.