BPD preparing for Bakersfield Marathon with traffic and safety plans

Yahoo

29-03-2025

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — The city is taking the lead on providing safety for Bakersfield Marathon runners and spectators.
With road closures, dozens of police officers will be keeping the marathon routes safe.
'Anything that we can do to help ensure public safety, make sure the roads are safe, that it's safe for our participants; the runners in the marathon. But we also wanna do the very best we can to minimize the disruption to business and to travel,' said Brent Stratton, Assistant Chief of Police.
It's not just the police department — it's a coordinated effort between many different businesses and departments.
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'Police officers, citizen volunteers, police technicians, professional staff, sworn staff, we set up an overall command post with it, we work with Bakersfield Fire Department, Hall Ambulance as well, there's other allied agencies pitching in, community based organizations, other portions of the city, so it really is a big lift for the city and Bakersfield Police Department,' said Stratton.
Stratton said BPD is setting up a command post to coordinate responses quickly if anything that threatens the safety of the event.
There will be a variety of different road barriers put up to protect the runners. There are a total of 43 different road closures throughout Sunday morning and into the early afternoon.
'You'll see police cars, you'll see other vehicles that are just meant to be able to block and provide for the safety of our participants,' said Stratton.
Even thought it's a big haul for Bakersfield's first responders, Stratton says, 'It's a great event to be able to have coming to our city.'
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