Old Georgetown Road at South Drive to Open for Morning Employee Access through September 2012

• Old Georgetown Road at South Drive Open for Vehicle Entrance and Exit from 6am – 10am, Monday - Friday
• Expanded Hours in Effect from May 21 – September 28, 2012
• "Exit Only" Still Remains from 3-7pm

Effective Monday, May 21, any employee with an NIH ID badge may begin using the vehicle entrance at Old Georgetown Road and South Drive during the morning rush period from 6am – 10am, Monday through Friday. The location can be used for entrance or exit until 10am. These expanded hours are in effect through Friday, September 28, 2012.

The new hours of operation beginning May 21 will be:

Old Georgetown at South Drive: Employees Only

• 6am to 10am – Inbound and Outbound traffic (Through September 28, 2012)
• 10am to 3pm – CLOSED
• 3pm to 7pm – Outbound traffic only

Reminders When Accessing the NIH Bethesda Campus

For most of us, entering the campus is a quick process that we have become accustomed to. Others, such as new employees and visitors accidentally attempting to enter employee gates may be unfamiliar with the requirements of using a specific entrance. However, many complaints arise from distracted or inattentive individuals not ready to use their NIH Identification (NIH ID) Card once they reach the gate.

On a normal business day, there are seven vehicle gates allowing employee access to campus. Locations and operating hours can be found at: http://www.ors.od.nih.gov/maps/Pages/Employee-Access-Map.aspx. Most of these gates are located in close proximity to parking garages or allow for faster access to specific buildings. Each entrance operates on a specific schedule. Employee entrances also require the official NIH ID to be displayed when using these gates. Employees may use any open employee gate to enter and exit the campus.   

Here are a number of tips for accessing the campus as expeditiously as possible:

• Have your NIH ID Card readily available to use at the card reader – a few seconds delay by each vehicle can cause traffic to back up quickly.
• If two or more persons are in the vehicle, use the lane closest to the security control station – each person will have to display an NIH ID, so it is equally important that passengers have their cards readily available.
• If using a cell phone, remember, use only hands-free cell phones – it’s the law in Maryland and on the NIH campus.
• Pay attention to the vehicle in front of you and move as quickly and safely through the gate arm in order to keep the line moving.
• Don’t become distracted as many of the entrances have pedestrian/bicyclist crossings located very close to the gate arm.
• If you forget your NIH ID, use the NIH Gateway Drive visitor entrance. Do not attempt to enter an employee entrance.
• Consider using an alternate employee entrance that may not be as congested and will get you onto the campus quickly.

For questions regarding this message, please contact the ORS Information Line at orsinfo@mail.nih.gov or (301) 594-6677. TTY is available at (301) 435-1908.  Please tune your radios to 1660 AM for NIH traffic, parking and perimeter security advisories.