Parking and Transportation News

AATA Thanksgiving Service Hours

The Ann Arbor Transportation Authority will not operate regular fixed-route bus service, A-Ride, or senior shared-ride services on Thursday, November 26, 2009 in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday.

The AATA main office and the Blake and Ypsilanti Transit Centers will be closed on Thanksgiving Day and will reopen on Friday, November 27.

Passengers may take advantage of AATA's Holiday Ride shared-ride service on November 26 for just $5 a person. Seniors and persons with disabilities with an AATA Senior or ADA identification card may ride for $2.50. Individuals with a go!pass may ride for $1.00.

For more information, see AATA's website.

Posted: 11/5/2009
Updated:

Thompson Street Parking Structure Annex Project

Parking During Construction

Construction of the new addition to the Thompson St. (W3) Parking Structure began on May 4, 2009. The initial phase of construction work rebuilt the Thompson Street entrance, providing new wider entry/exit lanes, a reversible center lane, a motorcycle lane and pedestrian walkways on each side of the drive lane.

The reversible center lane is now operational, with two entrance lanes in the morning and two exit lanes in the afternoon.

The project will provide additional (and enclosed) motorcycle parking and secured, enclosed parking for 50 bicycles. Throughout the project, a pedestrian walkway will be maintained on the South side of the parking structure for those traveling between Division St. and Thompson St.

Phase I is complete, with the Thompson St. entrance re-opened on May 26. The west side driveway, on Division St., is now permanently closed for construction of the new parking structure addition and office building.

Utility work on Division Street is now complete. The sidewalk of the East side of Division is now back in service.

Replacement of the guardrails in the existing parking structure began July 13 and has necessitated the closure of various groups of parking spaces on the East & South sides until its scheduled completion.

The guardrail project has been postponed until Spring, 2010, when it will likely affect less parkers. The guardrail equipment and materials are in the process of being moved.

Drive lanes to circulate throughout the deck will remain open, as will the interior parking rows.

Construction of the new parking deck addition and office building facing Division Street is scheduled to be completed in the Fall, 2010. For information about the construction project, see the AEC website at http://www.umaec.umich.edu/projects/Thompson/index.html.

The project will result in several other changes to the area's parking during construction. The following parking along Division Street and on Thompson Street will be closed:

Gravel parking lot W2 with 17 Blue permit and 12 UM Business Vehicle parking spaces
Restricted parking lot W8 with 20 spaces
Motorcycle parking lot W7, behind Thompson Structure on the Division Street exit drive
In the parking structure, all spaces on the west side on all levels and the entire basement, approximately 200 spaces. These closures are necessary to accommodate construction of the connectors between the existing and new decks and for safety reasons. [Note: These closures will occur throughout Phase I; all spaces will not be closed on the first day.]
- Parking on the east side of the west row and the up-ramps on all levels will remain open.
Motorcycle parking in lot W18 (mixed-use lot south of the structure), adjacent to the (former) Parking Customer Services office

In order to partially accommodate these impacts, we plan to make the following changes:

Lot W18 will be reconfigured to provide an additional 20 Blue permit and 9 University Business Vehicle spaces. 41 Visitor spaces will remain.
The motorcycle parking from lots W7 and W18 will be relocated to lot W13, on Thompson St. north of Jefferson St.
4 spaces in the structure will be converted from Blue to Gold parking because of the loss of lot W8, and Gold parking will be relocated to the east side of the ramp from level 1 to 2 and to the south end of level 2.
- On Regents meeting days, 8 Gold spaces will be reserved for their use.

Net impact on Blue Permit parking during construction:


Blue Permit spaces permanently closed	217
Plus Blue Permit spaces converted to Gold parking	4
Minus Blue Permit spaces gained via conversion of other spaces	20
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Net loss of Blue Permit spaces	201

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Given the fact that there will be a net loss of total spaces in this area during construction, we suggest the following parking alternatives:

Alternative visitor parking is available in lot W5, behind the LS&A Building on Maynard, and in the Maynard City parking structure.
Blue Permit parking is available in neighboring UM parking structures: Fletcher St. Parking Structure (N13) with an average of 175 vacant Blue spaces and Palmer Dr. Parking Structure (N26) with an average of 168 vacant Blue spaces.

Parking on campus during the construction will be challenging, so we encourage Blue permit parkers to consider the following additional options:

Blue parking is available on South Campus in lot SC12 (Greene @ Hill Streets) and lot SC2 (Hoover @ Greene Streets) with 10 minute bus service via the Northbound Commuter. Board at the Administrative Services Building on Greene @ Hoover and deboard on State Street across from the Michigan Union.
Consider exchanging Blue for Yellow permits, and park in lot SC9 (Coliseum lot on Hill @ Division). This location is a short walk from the west side of Central Campus and offers significant financial savings.
Consider exchanging Blue for Orange permits and save even more! Park at lot SC7 (east of Crisler Arena), and take the Northbound Commuter that runs every 10 minutes to Central Campus.

The Thompson addition will provide a net parking gain of 273 spaces when completed. Your patience and understanding during construction will be appreciated. If you have special parking needs you would like to discuss with us, please contact Parking Customer Services at umpark@umich.edu

Posted: 04/23/2009
Updated: 09/24/2009