Grey Cup road closures in downtown Hamilton

Several road closures scheduled for this week’s Grey Cup Festival are set to begin taking effect as early as Wednesday.

James Street North will be closed from York Boulevard to Cannon Street and Cannon Street to Barton Street East from Wednesday until Sunday at 5 a.m. for the Fan Central event being led by the team behind Supercrawl.

Thursday, closures will begin at Gage Street South between Main Street East to Cannon Street East and at Cannon Street East from Gage Avenue South to Balsam Avenue North for the “Community Race to the Cup”.

Those closures are expected to last from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. that day.

More extensive closures are anticipated on Saturday as various streets downtown will be blocked off for the Hamilton Santa Claus and Grey Cup parade set to begin at 9:30 a.m. and remain in effect until around 2 p.m.

READ MORE: A full list of Hamilton’s Grey Cup Festival events this week

These include Bay Street from Strachan Street West to Barton Street East, Barton Street East from Cannon Street East to Beechwood Avenue, Balsam Avenue North from Cannon Street East to Beechwood, and Beechwood from Melrose Avenue North to Balsam Avenue North.

For game day itself, more closures are scheduled from 11 p.m. on Saturday to 7 a.m. on Monday.

Those streets involved are Cannon Street East from Connaught Avenue to Barnesdale Avenue North, Melrose Avenue North from Cannon Street East to Beechwood Avenue, Balsam Avenue North from Cannon Street East to Beechwood Ave, and Beechwood Avenue from Melrose Avenue North to Balsam Avenue North.

With these closures setting in, questions still remain unanswered about how fans will get around as the HSR transit strike continues on with no end in sight as the union says they will be blocking any Grey Cup shuttle buses.

WATCH MORE: Concerns rise as Grey Cup nears, HSR strike continues