Valley Hospital promises less traffic in expansion????????????????
Thursday, May 2, 2013
BY Â MARY JO LAYTON
STAFF WRITER
The Record
The Valley Hospital’s expansion will lead to a decrease in traffic at the Ridgewood campus and improved traffic flow at clogged intersections, the hospital’s traffic expert has told the village Planning Board.
Valley would move some high volume outpatient treatment to other properties it owns, eliminating 430 trips a day to the Ridgewood hospital, Charles D. Olivo testified Tuesday night. Despite the increase in square footage at the hospital, traffic will improve and congestion will be eased, especially at Linwood and North Van Dien avenues, he said.
“The hospital will experience a decrease during all peak hours as well as a decrease of 430 trips a day compared to the existing conditions,” Olivo concluded in a report submitted to the board.
The Planning Board is weighing a change in the master plan to permit the hospital to expand by 77 percent — from 562,000 square feet to 995,000 square feet. Adding in the 245,000-square-foot parking garage, the hospital would more than double in size. The 451-bed facility would feature all private rooms and upgraded treatment areas.
Opponents of the expansion of the hospital, located in the middle of a residential area, were skeptical that traffic would improve, given the scope of the upgrade.
“It is refreshing to hear the hospital acknowledge their activity impacts local traffic, but we have no guarantees this volume of traffic, or more, won’t return once 400,000 square feet of additional hospital space is built,” Peter McKenna, president of the Concerned Residents of Ridgewood said after the meeting.
McKenna said even though the hospital is adding only three beds, “bed count is a lousy predictor of traffic. Bed count has not changed in the last 15 years, but hospital-generated traffic has increased substantially,” he said.
https://www.northjersey.com/news/205723011_Valley_Hospital_promises_less_traffic_in_expansion.html
This whole thing is laughable. So they’re saying that Linwood would potentially be up to 4 lanes wide for some distance (3 westbound and 1 eastbound). More kids will get hurt, not less, in the name of traffic. Cars will be able to fly down Linwood in that scenario, much more than now. You’d need crossing guards there most of the day to make sure somebody doesn’t get killed.
Thed
High volume out patient treatment being moved to other properties the hospital owns – the hospital purchased 555 North Maple Ave last year (former Village Ford location) and just purchased 1200 East Ridgewood Ave (across from the Duck Pond). So I guess we can expect more traffic on North Maple Ave and East Ridgewood Ave? Spread the congestion to neighborhoods now free of congestion? That’s a nifty idea.
Isn’t it obvious? Being the good neighbors that they are, Valley is spending $1 Billion to nearly double the size of their facility in order to cut down it’s utilization. Traffic will go up no more than the genius traffic engineers predict with 500 additional apartments downtown. In fact, it will likely decrease.
It just goes to show that for the right amount of money some people, not all, will say, or do anything. What a country !!!
To come up with that garbage after observing the area for two day’s in February (I’m sorry, two weeks with a machine on one road), was ludicrous, not to mention insulting to everyone’s intelligence who had to sit through it.
Although the stress is starting to tell, my hat is off to all the members of the Planning Board. And for those who were knocking the mayor over this issue, his questions have been spot on.
I think one of the days was Presidents day and there was no school…
I saw the traffic counters on Presidents Day and I knew that it was Valley.
Why does Valley need to increase parking? Why do they need a 5 level above ground parking structure? How far would the setbacks be if they add a second lane?
Several years ago a Village official told me that the county will not allow improvements to Linwood/Van Dien without improving the Linwood/N. Pleasant which would include right turn lanes.
Has the word “exhaust” been used by anyone at these meetings ? You would think that with the congestion that will inevitably occur, that the traffic “expert” would have addressed that, if for no other reason than the adverse effect it will have on pedestrians.
And for those who don’t understand the word”pedestrians,” children fit into that category…
Why is Valley only addressing the traffic problem in front of the hospital. Traffic backs up from Paramus Road to the hospital both east and west are a daily occurrence. Vehicles turn on to local side streets in an effort to avoid the backup diminishing the quality of life for many residents. The expansion will only make the problem worse.
Given that traffic is already a problem around the hospital, does anyone else find it odd that valley has the ability to eliminate 430 trips a day to the hospital by moving procedures to other locations, but will only do so as part of renewal. My guess is that moving these procedures will only take place during the reconstruction, and once completed, they’ll be moved back into the new facility. Why not just do this to relieve some of the congestion now?
Bet your last dime they will move them back. Get more space and then do what you want. That’s the idea.