The Boston Marathon is just four days away, and preparations are underway to ensure the iconic road race goes off smoothly and safely.
On Thursday morning, crews installed the finish line on Boylston Street — a line that around 30,000 runners hope to cross on Patriots Day. Meanwhile, metal barricades have already been placed along the route, bleachers for spectators have been set up and law enforcement is already present.
At a news conference at Copley Square, officials from the city, the FBI and more discussed the safety preparations.
"Whether on Monday you'll be wearing running shorts or a volunteer shirt, scrubs or a uniform, I want to thank every one who steps up each and every year to make the world's oldest and greatest marathon part of the fabric of our community," Mayor Michelle Wu said. "We are prepared and deeply excited to welcome the world to Boston on Monday."
It isn't lost on officials that this is the 10th anniversary of the marathon bombings, so ramped-up security should be expected across Boston. The top FBI agent in Boston, Joe Bonavolonta said that agencies were aware of no specific threats to this year's race, but that they would remain watchful.
"We're asking you to remain vigilant, because we all know how quickly the threat landscape can change," he said, noting that the greatest threat to large public events lately has been "lone actors who radicalize online."
MBTA Transit Police Chief Kenneth Green said that years of shared planning for events like the Boston Marathon will make Monday's marathon safer: "We're all well-prepared. I'm very confident in our training, but more importantly in our collective experience with handling large-scale events."
Visitors will notice uniformed officers and security checkpoints. But there will also be officers undercover, a massive operation that will be harder to see.
"(They'll be) looking for certain behaviors at the marathon baseline behaviors and looking for behaviors that deviate from that," Lt. Col. Mark Cyr of the Massachusetts State Police said.
The safety efforts have been much larger and coordinated since the bombings, and include medical teams in the planning.
The head of Boston EMS, James Hooley, said they will have ambulances staffed as well as EMTs on bicycles and on foot along the route to reach people quickly.
The security effort will cause some inconveniences. Officials are reminding spectators to limit what they bring to avoid holding up bag check lines. And with all the road closures, try to take public transportation.
