Parking, Directions, and Transportation
Note: All parking passes for 2024 are SOLD OUT. Please plan to use our remote lot and shuttles--or plan to be dropped off.
Causal Start:
The FULL and HALF Marathons start together at 7:00am. While most runners will likely line up for a 7:00am start, you may start ANYTIME, AT YOUR CONVENIENCE between 7:00am and 7:15am. This should be of particular interest to those of you who (a) still prefer some degree of social distancing, (b) didn't get in the port-o-john line soon enough, or (c) arrive to the race site a bit later than our recommended 5:30am arrival time.
- Important note 1: Age Group awards are based on bib/chip time, so starting later won't affect your placement. However, the monetary awards for the top 3 (by gender) Overall, Masters, and Military divisions are based on gun time.
- Important note 2: We still have a firm 2:00pm cut-off, so if you are concerned about that cut-off time, please start as close to 7:00am as possible.
You have three options to get to our start line:
Option 1: Parking Pass. Purchase one of our 500 for 2024 parking passes so that you can park on-site. NOW SOLD OUT.If you have a parking pass, there are two "sides" to our parking area, and you CANNOT drive within the park between the sides. Each side has roughly 300 availalbe parking spaces:
- 9008 Green Level Church Road, Cary, NC 27519 (DO NOT USE this address for Runner Drop-Off, only for Parking.)
- 7445 Green Hope School Rd, Cary, NC 27519
Option 2: Shuttle Buses from RTP. Take our YMCA-provided shuttles from NetApp in Research Triangle Park, NC to our start/finish area. The shuttle is a 6 mile / 15 minute trip and runs continuously from 4:00am to 2:30pm. These shuttles are for RUNNERS and VOLUNTEERS ONLY until 5:15am. After 5:15am, the shuttles are first-come, first-served for runners, volunteers, and spectators. The address of NetApp RTP is: Note: The NetApp RTP lot is 6 miles away, so we certainly don't recommend walking/running from there.
Please plan to arrive on NetApp RTP by 5:00am. This will give you time to walk to the shuttle busses, wait in a hopefully brief line for the bus, and get to the start/finish area with plenty of time for final preparations, porta-potties, bag drop, and pre-race selifes!
Not permitted on the shuttles: Pets, Bikes, or Wheelchairs.
Option 3: Drop off. Be dropped off. Runner drop off is a bit west of USA Baseball on Green Hope School Road near the entrance to the Hilliard Forest subdivison. The address of drop off is approximately: Please plan to be dropped off by 5:30am. We have a big tent waiting for you where you can get ready, socialize, and drop off your things (like jackets) at bag check just before the race.
Here are two BAD OPTIONS. Try to avoid these!
1. Park in nearby neighborhoods and/or churches or businesses...or on the side of Green Hope School Road. Please don't do this. These residents and establishments are already being gracious neighbors having their Sunday disrupted by our road/lane closures, traffic, and activitites. We want them to accept and embrace us, not dislike us. Additionally, you may return to where you parked and find that your car has been towed.
2. Take Uber or Lyft. How many Uber or Lyft drivers do you think are available at 5:00am on a Sunday morning? We've had runners report bad results with trying to use these services, and when Uber/Lyft drivers learn that there is a long backup that will turn an easy fare into a long ordeal, they have cancelled on the rider. That's not stress you want just before a race. If you use this approach, please be sure to book a reservation in advance.
If you don't have a car and have to use ride-sharing, you could have them take you to the remote parking, and you can then take our shuttle. We also don't recommend having them dropping you a distance away from the start/finish area and walking because there aren't sidewalks, and it is still very dark out.
Note: Using Uber or Lyft AFTER the race should not be a problem.
The Latitude/Longitude of the Start Line is approximately 35.798, -78.894 which is just northeast of the mark that Google Maps shows for "Tobacco Road Marathon":
General Driving Directions to USA Baseball
From Cary:
- Take High House Rd. towards Hwy. 55
- Turn Right onto Hwy. 55
- Drive to the next stop light, turn Left at the stop light onto Green Hope School Rd.
- Drive approximately 1.5 miles, turn Left into USA Baseball
From Chapel Hill/Durham via Interstate 40:
- Take I-40 east towards Raleigh
- Take exit 278 for Hwy. 55 and go towards Apex
- Drive approximately 7.5 miles, turn Right at the stop light onto Green Hope School Rd.
- Drive approximately 1.5 miles, turn Left into USA Baseball
From Pittsboro via US-64:
- Take US-64 towards Raleigh
- Take the Hwy. 55 exit towards Apex/Durham
- Turn Left towards Durham
- Drive approximately 4 miles, turn Left at the stop light onto Green Hope School Rd.
- Drive approximately 1.5 miles, turn Left into USA Baseball
From Garner via US-70:
- Take US-70 west towards Raleigh
- Turn left onto the I-40 W ramp to I-440/US-64 W/Cary Durham/Farmers Market
- Merge onto I-40/US-64 W
- Take Exit 293A for US-1 South
- Take exit 98B for US-64 W toward Pittsboro/Asheboro
- Take the NC 55 exit towards Apex/Durham,
- Turn Right onto Hwy. 55 towards Durham
- Drive approximately 4 miles, turn Left at the stop light onto Green Hope School Rd.
- Drive approximately 1.5 miles, turn Left into USA Baseball
From North Raleigh via 540 (Note: This route has a toll):
- Take 540 west/south past I-40
- Take exit 66A for NC 55 East towards Apex
- Turn Left onto Hwy. 55
- Turn Right onto Green Hope School Rd.
- Drive approximately 1.5 miles, turn left into USA Baseball
NC 540 Toll Road
NC 540 between NC 54 and US 1 is a toll road (The "Triangle Expressway"). Check here for toll rates. When heading south on NC 540 from I-40 or north on NC 540 from NC 55 or US 1, the cost is less than $2.00 (for NC Quick Pass, E-ZPass, SunPass, or Peach Pass) or, if bill-by-mail based on your license plate, less than $3.00. If you want to avoid tolls entirely, get off at NC 54 (heading south) or NC 55 (heading north) and follow your GPS.
When heading north, we recommend avoiding the tolls and taking NC 55
Spectator Parking
Spectators at the start/finish area may use the shuttle buses any time (continuously) from 5:15am through 2:30pm. Additionally, parking passes are not enforced at the finsh area parking after runners begin to leave. That means that parking spaces typically begin to become available by 10:00am, possibly before. Therefore, if you want to see your 4+ hour marathoner finish, you should be able to park at the start/finish area...unless all the half-marathoners are having too good of time at the post-race party!Spectators may also park at various marked locations long the course. Refer to the maps on https://tobaccoroadmarathon.com/maps for recommended spectator locations. Please note that some of these locations are not particularly convenient to get to.
Hotel
Our host hotel is the Embassy Suites, located at 201 Harrison Oaks Avenue, Cary, NC 27513. It is very close to the airport--less than 10 minutes away. For more information on our host hotel including the link for our negotiated rate, please see https://tobaccoroadmarathon.com/travel.IMPORTANT NOTE: Our host hotel is about a 20 minute drive from the race site and also about a 20 minute drive to the remote parking (if you don't buy an on-site parking pass). Unfortunately, we do not provide transportation to/from the hotel on race day.
Road Closures
For the duration of the race (from roughly 6:30am to 2:00pm), Green Level Church Road will be closed to traffic between Green Hope School Road and Brooks Park Lane.Other lane/road closures will only be temporary but could add delays to your travels with the greatest temporary closure between immediately after the 7:00am start time. Specificlaly, the intersection of Green Hope School Road and Green Level Church Road will likely be closed from 7:00am to about 7:30am. After that, you should be able to travel on Green Hope School Road and Green Level Church Road, but it would be best to avoid travelling north on Green Level Church Road or west on Morrisville Parkway from 7:00am to 8:00am even though they are not fully closed.
Road closures and lane restrictions are subject to change based on race-day conditions for the safety of our runners.
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