With the promise of thousands of new jobs to the region, expanded medical and dental school classes, the prospect of Connecticut becoming a biomedical research leader, and a new hospital tower, Bioscience Connecticut has much to offer in the way of benefits to the UConn Health Center, the state, and the economy.

But with that long-term promise comes the need for some short-term sacrifice, as the campus will have to deal with the inevitable disruption to parking.

The first Bioscience Connecticut groundbreaking will be for, of all things, parking. Work starts in June on a 402-space public garage where Lots I and G are today, near the main entrance. But before those new spaces are added, the campus will be down more than 200 spaces for about 10 months.

The first change to result from these plans will be the introduction of valet service, starting in early May:

• Lots I and G are reserved for patients and hospital visitors. The free valet service will be exclusively for patients and hospital visitors. Those cars will be parked in Lot L.
• When Lot L becomes the valet lot, employees will be prohibited from parking there. This applies to both the permit area and the open area.
• The largely unused Shuttle Lot 3 on lower campus will be available for the employees displaced from Lot L. An express shuttle with direct service between Shuttle Lot 3 and the main entrance will run nonstop from 6 to 9 a.m. and 3 to 6 p.m., with an intermittent schedule during off-peak hours.
• Most contractors are to park off-site, and contractor parking will be closely monitored.

A modified campus map illustrates these changes.

Additionally, Public Safety will start phasing in a new hang-tag system for all employees and students.

In a broadcast message, Bioscience Connecticut Vice President and Strategy Officer Thomas Callahan and the Health Center’s parking committee advisers tell faculty, staff and students:

“Please know we appreciate your patience if you are among those affected by these changes. The Health Center has come so far in the last year. Thanks to Bioscience Connecticut, we now have a solid plan for growth in our clinical, research and educational realms. None of this would have happened without the extraordinary work of each and every one of our employees.”

The message also announces plans for a town hall meeting on the parking changes in the coming weeks, and invites the Health Center community to send questions and comments to biosciencect@uchc.edu.

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