Walk This Way
For thousands of employees and visitors, parking patterns are about to change

George Economas, JHH director of parking and transportation services, welcomes the first phase of the campus master plan: the employees-only Orleans Street garage.

The new garage—with all of 2,300 spaces and five levels, one of which can hold more vehicles than the entire Rutland garage—is the first major milestone in the much-anticipated campus “master plan.” The plan expands the borders of the medical complex to such an extent that employees and visitors will find themselves increasingly engaged in an age-old aerobic activity: walking.

Situated on the south side of Orleans, the new garage will be for employees only, until two new clinical buildings on the other side of the street are complete. Staff who park in the Broadway garage and those who currently hold permits to park on the six upper levels of the McElderry garage will be reassigned to the Orleans garage.

The Broadway garage will be razed to free up land for the new clinical towers; the upper levels of the McElderry garage will become visitors only.

Employees will exit the Orleans garage using a pedestrian bridge that runs from its fourth level over Orleans Street. Until this elevated bridge connects to the future clinical buildings, employees will exit the bridge on the north side of Orleans using the stairs. (Special arrangements will be made for those with documented medical conditions that limit their ability to negotiate the stairwell.)

From there, it’s a walk to Broadway and Weinberg’s Jefferson Street entrance, the Outpatient Center, or the Broadway entrance, currently scheduled to reopen in September or October. The alternative: an employee shuttle, which will run daily at 15-minute intervals during peak rush hours, will ferry people from the bridge exit to Broadway and around to the hospital’s main entrance on Wolfe Street.

In bad weather, employees would use the covered walkway at the bridge exit, which leads into the Weinberg garage. They would enter through the card-access door, take a marked pedestrian route through the garage into Weinberg, and then cross the internal bridge that leads to the main hospital.

“Planning for this parking shift has been ongoing since the first shovel went into the ground,” says George Economas, director of parking and transportation services. “It’s a very exciting time, because this is the first domino in the campus revitalization process. But difficult choices had to be made so that we could safely accommodate our patients and visitors as well as our employees.”

Patients and visitors will park in garages closest to their destinations. A shuttle will run regularly between the Outpatient Center and Wolfe Street circles. Signage, directional maps and shuttle schedules will guide people from their garage to their destination.

Eventually, the Orleans garage structure will house a loading dock, energy plant and hospital kitchen. Attached to its east side will be a pediatric ambulatory care building fronting on Wolfe Street; on its west, patient/family housing fronting on Broadway.

Despite the initial shuffle, there are perks to parking in the new garage. “The Orleans garage will be clean and bright with fast, efficient elevators and a new traffic light to make it easier for vehicles to enter the garage,” says Economas. “We can’t stress enough how much we appreciate everyone’s patience as we move into this crucial phase of campus redevelopment.”

—Lindsay Roylance

Note: Details are subject to change. Check www.insidehopkinsmedicine.org for the latest
updates.

Bayview's Parking Shuffle Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center is currently in the middle of its own game of parking hopscotch. Construction on its long-awaited garage began in early March. Located on the site of the existing east visitor parking lot, the new garage will provide more than 700 spaces for patients, visitors and staff. During the 10-month construction period, employees are parking at alternate lots around campus and using a temporary shuttle system to get to their offices. Visitors and patients now park on a portion of the east employee parking lot. Vehicles will enter the new garage at approximately the same location as the existing lot. A north entrance will serve those who come south on Mason Lord Drive via Nathan Shock Drive. An enclosed bridge will extend from the third level to the south end of the Bayview Medical Offices, and an elevator and stairs will provide direct interior access to the first level. The facility is scheduled to open in January. For the most current updates, shuttle schedules and maps, go to www.jhbmc.jhu.edu:8001.