If you've ever left for a midday meeting and come back to find your normal lot full, you know all too well the winding (and often confusing) "overflow" odyssey that can follow.

In an effort to make this overflow process more straightforward, the Medical Center parking office is offering some helpful tips and tools (including free "mini-map" stickers and mobile apps). Be sure to read on to ward off headaches later!

1. Watch for better-labeled lots. Sometime in February, Medical Center parking lots will debut large, clear signage with their names.
2. If you’ve got a smart phone, download the free University of Rochester mobile app (visit http://m.rochester.edu/). The app’s second page of widgets contains parking information (look for the big blue “P”), including up-to-the-minute counts of lot capacity and overflow instructions (if applicable).
3. 3. Pick up a “mini-map” AVI sticker. Available in the Medical Center’s parking office, new “mini-map” stickers that affix right to your AVI tag illustrate the location of various URMC parking lots – and each lot’s number. Just stop down to the counter to pick one up. (A larger version of this same map is below, if you’d rather print a copy to keep handy in your glove compartment.)

Please also remember that after 2:15 p.m., any URMC permit holder may park in the Medical Center’s ramp garage.

Additionally, parkers in lots 1, 9, and 2 – who have more complicated overflow schemes – will be e-mailed letters with additional overflow tips.

For more questions about overflow patterns, please contact the Medical Center Parking Office at 275-4524.