The beginners guide to navigating Ann Arbor on a Michigan Football game day

There’s no better way to spend your Saturday than watching football at the Big House, but depending on how familiar you are with Ann Arbor, it can be challenging to navigate parking and street closures. Luckily for you, Maize n Brew has all of the information you need in order to effectively navigate Ann Arbor on game day.

Don’t forget that the City of Ann Arbor has partnered with WAZE to provide up-to-date information about traffic and street closures. You can also sign up for the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority’s newsletter for monthly updates on downtown mobility, or follow the DDA on Facebook and Twitter.

Parking

If you’re a regular at Michigan football games, then you probably have your own secrets about where to park on game day, but if you’re new in town, then you may want to use public parking.

The game day rates for downtown structures can be a little confusing, so take notes if you need to:

• The Forest Structure and the Fourth & William Structure will operate at flat rates of $15 per entry on home football Saturdays.
• The Ann Ashley Structure will operate at a flat rate of $4 per entry on Saturdays before noon. On game days with an afternoon kickoff (12:30 or later), the flat rate will increase to $15 per entry at noon.
• Liberty Square will operate at its standard flat rate of $4 per entry on Saturdays.
• Other downtown structures will operate at their standard rates. (Most are $1.20/hour.)

If you manage to find downtown street parking, it will operate at the standard hourly rate of $1.90/hour. Remember that on-street hourly parking has time limits that vary by location, so make sure to check the limit to avoid getting a ticket. (Note that the hourly rate applies to street parking within the bounds of downtown, and not necessarily to the residential areas closer to the stadium.)

The easiest and most convenient way to pay for downtown on-street parking is to download the free “ePark Ann Arbor” app. It will send you reminders when your parking session is about to expire, and you can extend your parking session from your phone.

Construction

If you’ve been in Ann Arbor recently, then you know that several downtown streets are under construction. Most of these construction products will be wrapped up in time for game day, but here are a few to keep in mind.

Huron Street

Three separate construction projects are currently being implemented on Huron Street, which means that a decent chunk of the street is down to one lane of traffic. Expect lane reductions and delays from Third Street to Glen Avenue.

For more info and real-time updates on the Huron Street construction, join this Facebook group moderated by the Downtown Development Authority.

William Street

William Street is currently closed from Fifth to Division as the DDA prepares to install Ann Arbor’s first protected bike lane! Ongoing construction updates are available by joining the William Street Bikeway Project Facebook Group.

Church Street

Church Street is closed to vehicle traffic between Hill and Willard. Northbound traffic will be detoured to westbound Oakland Avenue, then northbound East University, then eastbound Willard, back to Church Street. Southbound traffic will be detoured to westbound Willard to southbound East University to Oakland Avenue, then back to Church Street.​​

Other notes

Be aware of Ann Arbor’s one-way streets when driving through downtown! If you don’t feel comfortable driving in Ann Arbor, you can always take a FootballRide shuttle.

If you have any questions about downtown parking and street closures, feel free to contact Maura Thomson from the Downtown Development Authority at mthomson@a2dda.org. Drive safely and Go Blue!