New structure to provide 800 spaces of faculty and staff parking

ANN ARBOR—The new 980-space Palmer Drive parking structure—in the Palmer Drive Development near the Washtenaw Avenue/Huron Street curve—officially opens next week. Faculty and staff permit parking will be available Monday (Sept. 13), while 183 spaces of visitor parking will open Wednesday (Sept. 15).  

Due to ongoing construction in the area, a limited portion of the parking structure was available last year by driving through the Fletcher Street parking structure. The vehicle connector between the two structures will be closed with this grand opening, though pedestrians still have access via a connector bridge.   Vehicle access to the new structure only will be available via Palmer Drive.

“We’re very pleased to bring nearly 1,000 parking spaces into our system,” said Dave Miller, director of Parking and Transportation Services.   “This new structure is conveniently located near the medical and central campuses and provides us with an opportunity to offer some additional visitor parking, convenient to nearby museums, medical and dental services, and performing arts venues.”

The structure is accessible at two locations along Palmer Drive via five traffic lanes. A faculty/staff entry and exit are at the east end of Palmer Drive, closest to the intersection with Washtenaw Avenue.   Permit holders will need an Automated Vehicle Identification (AVI) device or an access card to gain access.    Fifteen faculty/staff gold permit spaces and ten U-M Business spaces are located near the east entry/exit.

At the western end of Palmer Drive, a combined entry lane for visitors and faculty/staff AVI permit holders, a cashier-attended exit lane for visitors and an exit lane for AVI device holders are provided.   Faculty and staff entering through the west entrance will need to drive through a second AVI-controlled gate to access permit only spaces.

Visitor parking at $1 per hour will be available 7 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday through Saturday.  

Pedestrians will be able to exit the structure area to the northeast via the Palmer Plaza and new pedestrian bridge over Washtenaw Avenue, or to the southeast along a pedestrian walkway to North University Avenue, or west through the Fletcher Street parking structure, Miller said.    

Additionally, AVI technology will be activated in the nearby Fletcher parking structure in October.

The $24-million Palmer Drive parking structure was built on top of a 1-million-gallon stormwater detention basin. Rising above the structure is the new Undergraduate Science Building (USB), which is slated to open in late 2005.

For more information about Parking and Transportation Services at the U-M, visit www.parking.umich.edu or call (734) 764-8291.

For more information about the construction of the Palmer Drive Development, including the Life Sciences Institute, the Palmer Commons, the USB and the parking structure, visit http://www.plantext.bf.umich.edu/plantext/projects/palmer/main/index.html