TSSAA basketball tournaments are as reliable as daffodils popping up each March in Tennessee, and so are the traffic changes they make necessary around MTSU.

The TSSAA Boys’ High School Basketball Tournament, set Wednesday through Saturday, March 11-14 — will cause changes in parking and traffic patterns on the campus of Middle Tennessee State University, which is again hosting the event.

As a result, area motorists should be aware of several factors affecting roads and parking around MTSU.

• MTSU’s East Main Street and Rutherford Boulevard entrances will be the most convenient campus entry points during the tournaments, university officials said.

• Team buses again will park on the east side of Middle Tennessee Boulevard in what is usually the right northbound lane, creating a single lane of traffic from the Presidents’ House to Faulkinberry Drive.

• The Greenland Drive parking lot will be reserved for TSSAA ticketholders during both tournaments, and vehicles must pay $5 to park there. Students and faculty who use the Greenland Drive lot should prepare now to find alternative parking on campus, including the Tennessee Livestock Pavilion lot off Greenland Drive and the Rutherford Boulevard parking lots.

• The university will reserve parking during the tournaments in the Middle Tennessee Boulevard, Cason-Kennedy Nursing Building and Smith Field lots for vehicles displaying appropriate campus permits. Visitors with appropriate permits also will be allowed to park in those lots.

• Faulkinberry Drive will be closed at the Middle Tennessee Boulevard entrance and at Normal Way March 11-14.

Motorists also should keep in mind the traffic congestion around campus and allow extra time to reach their destinations. They also can use the university’s perimeter parking lots, including the Tennessee Livestock Pavilion and Rutherford lots, during the tournaments.

The university also served as host for the 2015 Girls’ High School Basketball Tournaments March 4-8. Inclement weather delayed the March 5 games and forced rescheduling of the finals to March 8 instead of March 7. The weather also closed MTSU March 5 and 6.

MTSU is on spring break March 9-14, during the second TSSAA tournament, and no classes are being held. University offices will be open regular hours, but the Raider Xpress shuttle service will not run while the university is on spring break.

All other events scheduled on campus during the tournaments will be allowed first-come, first-served parking in any of MTSU’s free lots, based on availability.

A searchable campus map with parking and travel notes is available at http://tinyurl.com/MTSUParking14-15. For more information about the TSSAA state tournaments, visit www.tssaa.org or call 615-889-6740.