UTICA — Mohawk Valley residents are concerned whether the new Wynn Hospital will have the capacity to handle parking once it opens this fall.

While the new hospital is expected to open in October, with both St. Elizabeth Medical Center and Faxton-St. Luke’s Healthcare shutting down immediately after Wynn’s opening, the parking garage adjacent to the new hospital won’t be open until around five months after.

Patients, families and healthcare workers will soon be expected to go from south Utica and New Hartford to one centralized location in downtown Utica.

According to county officials, the parking garage is on track to be completed by February or March of next year, leaving officials with Mohawk Valley Health System (MVHS) to figure out how to handle parking until then.

While MVHS officials declined to comment directly on specific plans regarding parking, they did release the following statement:

“MVHS is working with city, county, state and community partners to develop a parking plan to use between the time the Wynn Hospital opens and when the Oneida County parking garage is open. The plan will be finalized well before the opening of the new hospital, at which time communication will go out to MVHS staff, medical staff and the community.”