Southcoast Health System & Southcoast Hospitals Group

St. Luke's Parking Garage

New | Delivery route for pre-cast panels, beginning September 8, 2008

Southcoast has begun construction on a new parking garage to address parking and traffic around St. Luke's Hospital.

When completed in March 2009, the three-story, 31,000 square-foot parking garage will house 345 cars with an additional 34 surface parking places for a total of 379 new parking spaces.

"The Taber Street Parking Garage will address our long-term parking and traffic solutions," said Linda Bodenmann, Chief Operating Officer at Southcoast. "We have been working closely with the neighbors on a solution that is in the best interest of the neighborhood at-large, our patients and employees."

The plan calls for Taber Street to become a two-way street between Page Street and the garage, with the entrance and exit to the garage from Taber Street. The street will be closed to through-traffic to alleviate the traffic congestion on the west side of the hospital or the Priscilla and Gould streets side of the campus.

Another important aspect of the garage is aesthetics and green space, Bodenmann said.

"We have taken great care to design a building that will compliment the neighborhood and add green space," she said. "Our goal is to make the building blend in with the existing campus and improve the neighborhoods that are adjacent to the hospital with particular emphasis on the view from West Street. In addition to trees and greenery, we plan to build a stone wall similar to the one on Page and Hawthorn streets."

During construction, Southcoast is operating a shuttle service for employees and construction workers who will park at an offsite location to make up for parking spaces lost to construction staging.

Delivery of Pre-Cast Panels | Beginning September 8, 2008

Map of the delivery route of pre-cast panels for the new St. Luke's garage. Click to view larger image.
During the next few months, the hospital will be receiving numerous deliveries of pre-cast panels that will serve as the structure of the garage.

The deliveries will begin on Monday, September 8, and take place for approximately six to nine weeks, Monday through Friday between the hours of 7 a.m. and 4 p.m.

The trucks will be transporting the materials from a storage facility in the South End of New Bedford by traveling down Rockdale Avenue to Allen Street to the construction site off Taber Street.

"St. Luke's will be exercising every caution to ensure public safety during this time including hiring special police officers to direct traffic flow. This is necessary due to the size of the panels and the number of trips necessary to bring the pieces to the site. We will also have special police officers at the corner of Allen Street and Rockdale Avenue in addition to having an officer ride with each shipment," said Arif Khan, Vice President of Support Services at Southcoast Hospitals Group.

"It is important that our community members and staff are safe at all times. Please be careful traveling to the hospital and crossing the streets surrounding the hospital during this time."

When completed in March 2009, the three-story, 31,000-square-foot parking garage will have spaces for 345 cars with an additional 34 surface parking places for a total of 379 new parking spaces.

Renderings

How you can help.

Your support is vital to the success of the New St. Luke's. To learn more about the project — and how your donation can help — please contact us at:

Dick Labouchere

labouchered@southcoast.org

Learn more about how you can support St. Luke's.