UConn Preparing For Move-In Weekend

STORRS, CT — The University of Connecticut is bracing for the annual move-in weekend and this year's version will feature a new traffic pattern.

The semester begins Monday.

On Friday, first-year students start moving in and exploring campus with their families, then gather that evening for the annual Torch-Lighting Convocation Ceremony.

On Saturday and Sunday returning and transfer students move into Storrs residence halls.

By Monday, more than 12,000 students will be settled into the 18 residential communities at UConn's main Storrs campus. A detailed plan posted on the Residential Life website is serving as a guide.

UConn and state police will be out in force and drivers and pedestrians are urged to exercise caution and "extend consideration for each other" in Storrs, where a "significant number" of people might be unfamiliar with campus roads.

Officials are not only instructing drivers to yield pedestrians, but are telling this on foot to use crosswalks.

Drivers not heading to campus are being encouraged to use alternate routes on and around UConn during daylight hours when possible to avoid delays from move-in traffic.

Some traffic patterns will change to facilitate move-in traffic and some roads may be partly blocked or temporarily used for one-way travel, officials said.

On pilot program is designed to facilitate foot traffic and will last the entire fall semester. UConn officials closed a portion of Hillside Road on Aug. 12 to remove vehicles from the traffic-heavy stretch near the Student Union between Glenbrook Road and Jim Calhoun Way.

Buses and emergency vehicles are still able to use that stretch of the road, but other passenger vehicles are prohibited.