News & Events

Location & Directions

Starting Saturday, August 23, the NIH will begin welcoming all visitors in vehicles or as pedestrians at the new NIH Gateway Center location. (Patients and patient visitors should continue to enter campus at the West Drive/Cedar Lane entrance during the hours of 7am – 7pm, Monday – Friday.)

Pedestrians
For individuals arriving as pedestrians, the Gateway Center (Building 66) is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, capable of handling single individuals to large busloads of visitors, quickly and efficiently.

Vehicles
For visitors arriving in vehicles, on motorcycles or bicycles, the Gateway Vehicle Inspection Station (Building 66A), provides multiple inspection lanes and allows visitors to go through inspection and get a visitor badge in one centralized, efficient process. Vehicles enter the Gateway Center complex through a new roadway, "NIH Gateway Drive," just south of the intersection of the previous visitor entrance at South Drive and Rockville Pike. Vehicles that choose to bypass parking in MLP-11 will go through inspection and enter campus at Center Drive near the National Library of Medicine. (See Gateway Map: http://parking.nih.gov/Gateway.htm)

Building 66A Vehicle Inspection Hours of Operation:

Monday – Friday, 5am – 10pm
Saturday – Sunday, 6am – 6pm

* After 10pm on weekdays and 6pm on weekends, visitors in vehicles should enter campus via the Commercial Vehicle Inspection Facility/CVIF (http://parking.nih.gov/visitor_access_map.htm#CVIF) - Building 67 (on Rockville Pike between North Drive and Wilson Drive)

Parking
The Gateway complex also includes MLP-11, a 342-space, multi-level underground parking garage. This ‘visitor-only’ lot will be the primary visitor parking for the NIH main campus. We strongly encourage all visitors to park in this garage as there will be limited visitor parking on campus, other than for patients and visitors to the Clinical Center. Vehicles parking in MLP-11 are outside of the perimeter security and will not go through vehicle inspection, reducing the amount of time it takes to get on campus.

MLP-11 Hours of Operation:

Monday – Friday:
6am - 9pm (entrance)
6am - 11pm (exit)
Saturday-Sunday: Closed

* When MLP-11 is closed, visitors can park in lots on the NIH main campus.

* Visitors parking in MLP-11 should proceed to the Gateway Center to get a visitor badge and either walk or take a shuttle bus to their destination.

* Vehicles left in the MLP-11 parking garage after 11pm on weekdays or during weekends are subject to ticketing and towing.

* The cost to park in MLP-11 is $2 per hour for the first three hours, $12 maximum for the entire day. This is the same rate currently charged for all visitor parking at the NIH.