Commute from Packard Row to Michigan Medicine

Markdown duplicate of /guides/commute-to-michigan-medicine.

# Commute from Packard Row to Michigan Medicine

Door-to-door from 2111 Packard to the U-M Hospital campus: about 8 minutes by car, 20 by bike, plus the Route 5 bus option. Times, parking, and edge cases.

- **Canonical page:** https://www.packardrow-annarbor.com/guides/commute-to-michigan-medicine
- **Markdown page:** https://www.packardrow-annarbor.com/markdown/guides/commute-to-michigan-medicine
- **Last modified:** 2026-06-09

## Guide metadata

- **Published:** 2026-06-09
- **Updated:** 2026-06-09
- **Author:** Packard Row leasing
- **Theme:** commute
- **Target query:** apartments near Michigan Medicine commute
- **Reading time:** 6 minutes
- **Primary keyword:** commute to Michigan Medicine
## At a glance

- **~8 min:** by car to U-M Hospital
- **2.0 mi:** door-to-door distance
- **Route 5:** Packard bus, every 30 min
Two miles north. Eight minutes by car on a clear morning, and the route never makes you touch downtown. Most staff don't bother fussing over it because the trip is short. The reason to read this anyway: an eight-minute drive and a twenty-minute drive feel like different jobs when your badge swipe is at 6:45am, and the difference usually comes down to which light you hit on Washtenaw.

So here's the actual trip. By car, by bike, by bus. With the bits that move around depending on season, day, and whether Michigan is playing Ohio State at home.

## The car route

Out of the lot, north on Packard. Left on Washtenaw. Right on Observatory, which dumps you at the south end of the hospital campus. Two miles. Eight minutes door to door if the city is behaving. Add two to four during the evening crawl.

There's a second option worth knowing: Packard north to Stadium, east to Washtenaw. It's a half mile longer, but it dodges a couple of the timed lights near Hill that can stack up between 7:30 and 8:30. Most people who live on this stretch use both and pick by feel.

Don't try a residential shortcut. Threading Burns Park toward Hill saves nothing because the stop signs eat any gain you thought you had. Packard wins.

For floor plans that hold up when your sleep window is 3pm to 11pm, see the [shift-work apartment guide](/guides/shift-work-apartment-guide).

## Parking on the hospital campus

A whole separate animal. Short version: hospital staff park in the dedicated employee structures, which means a permit through U-M Parking and Transportation Services. What you're assigned depends on shift, role, and seniority. P1, P2, and the Mott structures are where most permits land.

Packard Row residents don't compete with hospital staff for parking. The building has its own off-street lot with [on-site EV charging](/guides/ev-charging-at-packard-row), which actually matters if you're coming from a place where charging meant a public station behind a CVS off Stadium. Your home spot and your shift spot are separate problems. Treat them that way.

One quiet benefit of the south-side approach: you never see the State Street corridor. Game day, commencement, any campus-wide event that turns Central into a parking lot — none of it lands on you. You take Washtenaw, you come in from the south, and the cars are usually moving.

## Biking it

About twenty minutes on a road bike. Add five for a city bike with panniers. The route most cyclists settle into: Packard north to Hill, west on Hill to Forest, up Forest into the campus grid. Roughly the same distance as the car route, but Hill has a marked lane that connects to the rest of the campus network.

May through October, this is a good commute. Real flowers in the front yards on Lincoln, decent shade most of the way. November through April it's a coin flip. Ann Arbor winters bring road salt that chews through drivetrains, streets that get plowed but stay slick at the curb, and the occasional ice storm that takes the decision out of your hands. The year-rounders run a winter bike with studded tires and accept the maintenance bill. Plenty of people garage it from Thanksgiving to St. Patrick's Day and call that the season.

Bike parking exists at Michigan Medicine but isn't endless. The covered racks by the University Hospital entrance fill before 7am in good weather. After that, you're at the secondary racks near Cancer Center.

Packard Row has a rack on site. If you're storing a bike indoors for winter, the [Pine floor plan](/floorplans/pine) is the largest 2BR at 1,022 square feet and handles a wall mount without the bike becoming the room's main feature.

## The Route 5 bus

AAATA's [Route 5](https://www.theride.org/maps-schedules/route-maps-schedules-library) runs Packard Street. The stop is steps from the front door, connecting to the Blake Transit Center downtown, where you transfer to Route 24 or 27 for the hospital. Total trip: forty-five minutes to an hour. Buses come every thirty minutes on weekdays, less on weekends.

The bus is a genuine option for anyone who'd rather not own a car. It's not a fast one. The real upside is money: $1.50 a ride, and [U-M's MRide transit pass for affiliates](https://ltp.umich.edu/transportation-alternatives/mride) brings it down further. If you're committed to going car-free, it works. If you're working twelve-hour shifts and don't know when you're getting off, the car wins, and not by a small margin.

There's no U-M shuttle stop at 2111 Packard. The shuttles run between Michigan Medicine and central campus, not into the neighborhoods around them. Plan accordingly.

## Edge cases

Football Saturdays. Six or seven home games a year. The lockdown around Michigan Stadium and parts of State Street starts three to four hours before kickoff. Washtenaw stays mostly clear because it's far enough east, so the Packard-Washtenaw-Observatory route holds. Avoid Main, avoid State, don't try anything westbound through Burns Park.

Winter weather. Ann Arbor gets real snow most years. The city plows the arterials (Packard, Washtenaw, Stadium) before residential streets, so your commute route is usually drivable when side streets aren't. The thing that bites is black ice on the bridges over US-23. The first cold morning of December, leave fifteen minutes early. You'll know which one.

Construction season. Summer projects rotate. Packard itself has been quiet recently, but Washtenaw and the cross streets near campus take turns. Check the city's project map in April.

Hospital lot full. Rare. Happens during admit surges or major events. Overflow is the Wall Street structure, which adds five to ten minutes to your door-to-desk number. Good to know if you've been at U-M Health less than a year and don't have permit priority.

## How this stacks up against other Ann Arbor commutes

Most addresses inside city limits reach Michigan Medicine in fifteen minutes or less by car. The gap between fifteen and eight is mostly the amount of central campus you have to cross. Downtown and Main Street apartments fight more lights, more pedestrians, and the State Street game-day shutdown.

North side, near Plymouth Road, you're physically closer to the hospital but you have to cross US-23 or loop around it, which gives the time back. South of I-94 is too far for a sane bike commute. The Packard corridor is one of the few places where the route is short, the streets are clean, and the other end of the trip is actually quiet.

For a closer comparison between this side and downtown, the [Packard Row vs. downtown comparison](/guides/packard-row-vs-downtown-ann-arbor) covers it.

## What hospital staff actually ask on tours

Three things, every time. Controlled access at 2am, when you're coming off a shift and not in the mood to fumble for keys. The building has secure entry, smart locks on every door, and 24-hour emergency maintenance. In-unit laundry for scrubs, because every home includes washer and dryer; [why that's more important than it sounds](/guides/in-unit-laundry-apartments) is its own conversation. And daytime noise. Bryant Pattengill East is residential and quiet, the building is smoke-free, and the resident mix isn't undergraduate-heavy. You can sleep at 3pm.

If you'd rather time the drive yourself, the leasing team can route you the same way you'd run it on a Tuesday morning. [Tour the building](/lp/michigan-medicine) and bring a stopwatch.

## FAQ

### How far is Packard Row from Michigan Medicine?

About two miles. By car, roughly eight minutes without traffic via Packard Street to Washtenaw and up Observatory. Closer to twelve in evening rush.

### Is there hospital shuttle service?

No direct U-M shuttle stops at 2111 Packard. The closest shuttle pickups are on central campus, which most residents access by car or bike rather than transferring through the AAATA system.

### Where do hospital staff park at Packard Row?

Off-street parking is included on-site, with EV charging stations available. Residents don't share parking with hospital staff or visitors.
## Related guides

- [shift-work-apartment-guide](https://www.packardrow-annarbor.com/guides/shift-work-apartment-guide)
- [in-unit-laundry-apartments](https://www.packardrow-annarbor.com/guides/in-unit-laundry-apartments)