The underground parking garage beneath the Ray and Maria Stata Center will open on Monday, June 2. The three-level, 680-space garage will accommodate all MIT parkers with Northeast permits, plus an additional 280 drivers who now park off campus.
The East Garage next to the Stata site will be demolished beginning on June 16.
MIT commuters who are interested in parking in the Stata garage should check with their parking coordinator for the availability of a Northeast permit.
Due to ongoing construction directly above the garage as well as the Vassar streetscape project and construction of the brain and cognitive sciences project, vehicular and pedestrian traffic patterns will change periodically. The new garage will have three traffic lanes that can accommodate vehicles in either direction based on traffic flow at different times of the day. Electronic indicators will direct drivers to open lanes.
Temporary pedestrian exits will be in place when the garage opens. Staff from the Parking Office will direct drivers through the garage during its first few days of operation. Elevators and permanent stairways are complete, and there are emergency phones linked to MIT Police at all stairways and elevators.
The Stata Center will include the William H. Gates Building housing the Laboratory for Computer Science, the Alexander Dreyfoos Building housing the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, the Laboratory for Information Decision Systems, and the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy. The building is scheduled to open early next year.
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on May 21, 2003.
