Traffic impacts of this Saturday’s IRONMAN Texas competition

THE WOODLANDS, TX – As it has every April since 2011 (with the exception of the 2021 event which was postponed to that October due to COVID), the annual Memorial Hermann IRONMAN Texas triathlon is hitting The Woodlands this Saturday. This weekend, approximately 3,000 participants (and at least an equal number of spectators) will descend upon the Township, and our local roads will definitely be impacted.

The IRONMAN competition ​consists of three legs. Athletes will start their journey shortly after sunrise with a 2.4-mile swim in The Woodlands Waterway, have the nearby toll road all to themselves for a 112-mile bike ride, and wrap it up with a marathon that’s one of the most spirited 26.2-mile runs in North America.

The roads impacted include Lake Woodlands Drive, Grogan’s Mill, East Panther Creek, Gosling, Sawdust, Budde, Pruitt, Spring Woods Village Parkway, Spring Stuebner, Northgate Crossing, South Park, Woodlands Parkway, Timberloch, Lake Robbins Drive, Lake Front Circle, Woodloch Forest, Waterway Avenue, and Riva Row. Additionally, I-45 will be affected and the Hardy Toll Road will be shut down to motorized traffic.

For the first part of the event, Lake Woodlands eastbound from Lakeside Blvd to Lake Front Circle will be impacted during the swim course from 7 a.m. through 10:30 a.m. (all times listed are approximate).

Lake Woodlands eastbound from Cochran’s Crossing to Grogan’s Mill, and Grogan’s Mill southbound from Lake Woodlands to Woodlands Pkwy will be closed from 5 a.m. - 11 a.m. and 6 a.m. - 11 a.m. respectively for the bike course. For the run course, Waterway Ave from Lake Robbins to Timberloch will be closed from Friday through Saturday; Riva Row will be closed from Grogan’s Mill to Six Pines from 6 a.m. - 6 p.m. Saturday, and Lake Robbins will be closed from Grogan’s Mill to Six Pines from 5 a.m. until midnight Saturday.

All of the above-listed roads will be affected at various times throughout the day for the bike course and run course. While the bike course officially ends at 6:30 p.m. at Grogan’s Mill and Timberloch, the marathon stays in effect until midnight. Lake Robbins, Lake Woodlands Dr, Panther Creek, Woodlands Pkwy, Lake Front Circle Timberloch, and Woodloch Forest in particular will be impacted until late into the night.

If you simply need to get around The Woodlands by car that day, do all you can to avoid Lake Woodlands between Cochran’s Crossing and Grogan’s Mill, Grogan’s Mill through the Sawdust interchange, Sawdust to I-45, and some side roads like Budde, Westridge, and Sawmill from midmorning through late afternoon for the bike course. From late morning through late night, avoid the marathon closures by avoiding the square created by Lake Woodlands and Woodlands Pkwy running east / west and Panther Creek and Grogan’s Mill running north / south, plus Timberloch and Waterway Ave and surrounding streets.

Woodlands Online will be providing race and traffic coverage updates throughout the day and evening, so be sure to bookmark www.woodlandsonline.com (and follow @woodlandsonline on Facebook and X) to be kept up to date.

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