St. Paul's Hospital plan prompts traffic concerns
Providence Health Care says future facility will mean better access for Vancouverites
Some East Vancouver residents are concerned about the impact the plans to move and rebuild St. Paul's Hospital will have on traffic in the area.
Providence Health Care announced last month that St. Paul's Hospital will close its West End location and move to a new location in East Vancouver, near Main Street and Terminal Avenue.
"It means we will see a lot more ambulance traffic, a lot more police traffic that goes with that sometimes, a lot more citizen traffic," said one resident Josh Young at a community meeting on Wednesday evening.
However, the hospital redevelopment chief project officer Neil MacConnell said that the new location will mean better access for city residents.
"That's a very central location from a transportation perspective. Even people coming from outside the city can get to that location," he said.
He added that new facility will be built with the potential to expand.
"It's a site that's vacant at this time, so lots of capacity and more capacity to build our hospital."
Providence Health Care still has to produce a business case and concept drawings for the government to approve.
Elana Zysblat of the Strathcona Residents' Association says her group will be closely watching the development plans.
"I think there's a great opportunity we might be lucky to have a great site like this going up near us, but we also have to watch the process very, very carefully to make sure we're avoiding any negative impacts," she said.