As runners cross San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge on Sunday, the city's most famous landmark will be closed to traffic to prevent a vehicle ramming attack similar to those that have taken place in the U.K., France and Germany.
During the marathon—which attracts some 15,000 runners from throughout the world— the bridge will be closed to motorists driving northbound, with the measure expected to affect around 4,500 drivers.
Southbound lanes will be kept open since runners are protected by a steel and concrete barrier, Associated Press reported.
The Golden Gate Bridge District Board of Directors voted unanimously on the measure in June, following a series of terror attacks in Europe by supporters of the Islamic State militant group (ISIS).
In March, five people were killed when an attacker rammed pedestrians on London's Parliament Bridge and launched a knife attack before being shot dead by police.
Three months later, eight were killed when attackers drove a van into pedestrians on London Bridge, before stabbing several people and being killed by police.
Both attacks have been linked to Islamic extremism, and followed similar acts involving vehicles in mainland Europe, including the Berlin market attack in December, 2016, and the Nice Bastille Day attack earlier that year.
In June 2016, ISIS released a video threatening to attack the Golden Gate bridge and the San Francisco financial district.
This is not the first time U.S. authorities have taken security measures to prevent terror attacks. In the aftermath of 9/11, between 2003 and 2010, the federal and state government invested $15 million improving security at the Golden Gate Bridge.
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