VA Hospital Should Expand East To Grand Boulevard
Yesterday I explained that John Cochran Veterans Hospital Wants To Expand South Into Grand Center, Raze Historic Palladium Music Hall. This would involve taking an active union hall, a popular restaurant that just rebuilt its building, and the historic Palladium. It would also require the city to vacate a public street: Enright.
It would also leave John Cochran Hospital set far back from Grand, in stark contrast to urban buildings to the north and south along Grand Blvd. My solution then, is to look at expanding the hospital out toward Grand Blvd, rather than to the South.
Of course, after the 1995 bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, the front would need to be a blast-resitant design. They’d need less room for surface parking and valet service if they actually embraced public transit.
Directions to the hospital takes you to the driving directions page. If you look for it you’ll see the on public transportation page which says:
Public transportation is available at both divisions. The Grand Boulevard bus will take you to the John Cochran Divsion [sic]. The Jefferson Barracks Division may be reached by using either the Broadway or Lindbergh bus. For more information on public transportation for the bus lines or for Metrolink rail service please contact Metro St. Louis at (314) 231-2345 or visit their web site at *Metro St. Louis.
* Link will take you outside of the Department of Veterans Affairs Website. VA does not endorse and is not responsible for the content of the linked websites. The link will open in a new window.
The above should be written as something like:
Both divisions can be reached via public transportation. The John Cochran Division is served by the the following routes:
- #70 Grand*
- #97 Delmar* (1 block south)
- #94 Page* (3 blocks north)
- #10 Gravois-Lindell* (5 blocks south)
- MetroLink light rail (Exit Grand Station, transfer to the northbound #70 Grand MetroBus)
The Jefferson Barracks Division may be reached by using either the #40 Broadway or #48 Lindbergh MetroBus routes.
For more information on public transportation for the bus lines or for Metrolink rail service please contact Metro St. Louis at (314) 231-2345 or visit their web site at *Metro St. Louis.
* Link will take you outside of the Department of Veterans Affairs Website. VA does not endorse and is not responsible for the content of the linked websites. The link will open in a new window.
That little bit of extra information might convince someone to use transit rather than drive.veer
Back to expansion, there might be legitimate reasons why adding to the south makes a lot of sense in terms of internal flow, but it is also possible they never considered adding out front rather than to the side.
— Steve Patterson
I support public transit, but using public transit as an argument, here, makes little sense. These are regional facilities serving sick, and mostly older, veterans. They will only use public transit if they can’t drive themselves, or find someone to drive them. Public transit works best for daily commuters, to jobs or to school, it does not work well for getting to appointments that vary from visit to visit, and are completed randomly. The current set-up (your green-shaded area), with multiple drop-off lanes and multiple accessible parking spaces is a better solution for most patients.
That said, there are probably ways to design any addition to be more “urban” and to (re)locate the drop-off and accessible parking away from Grand, much like how SLU Hospital does further south on Grand: http://goo.gl/maps/YkX94 . . Or, if they really want to encourage transit, they should do like BJC, and relocate to a Metrolink station, but that would be counter to maintaining a presence in Grand Center. But if you really want to dream, how ’bout using the air rights over the railroad tracks at the Grand Metrolink station to create a state-of-the-art, TOD, new VA complex, to replace both local divisions?
How many people drive themselves to the hospital for surgery? I do see vets on the #97 bus all the time already, just making the options more pronounced might increase transit use.
I’d argue the current location, where numerous bus lines converge, is better than at MetroLink light rail.
Not everyone goes for surgery, many go for appointments with doctors / specialists, for rehab, for tests and to visit people who are hospitalized. And you are correct, most people don’t drive themselves to the hospital for surgery (mostly because they won’t be allowed to drive home). But when it comes to surgery, especially same-day surgery, most patients would not be allowed to take public transit home, either – they need to be accompanied by another responsible adult, not allowed to fend for themselves in a compromised state.
And those going “for appointments with doctors / specialists, for rehab, for tests and to visit people who are hospitalized” have the option to take transit.
The real question is how many VA employees use transit? They work predictable schedules and should be able to figure the bus and Metrolink schedules to commute . . . .
It’s 50/50. If they need surgery of course they won’t or should not drive but public transport is a last resort option. Same with going for appointments. A check-up is one thing, but if they are feeling under the weather or out of sorts, then the last thing they will want to do is take public transportation and will rely on friends/family to bring them…a.k.a. drive them, if nothing else, for the convenience.
I’m sure you remember recovering from your stroke Steve. How many of those appointment, tests, rehab, etc, were done via the bus over car?
Besides all that, JZ is correct, the VA is a regional medical facility so unless there is a train from Desoto, Rolla, and all points round people are going to drive. I think the next closest VA medical facilities are Cape and Columbia.
Agree Steve, it just not make any sense to destroy more buildings that are either already in use, or likely to be reused when so much vacant land and underutilized land is available. In fact it is lazy on their part to propose anything else. By the way I agree that many vets already use mass transit, obviously it is not for everyone, but clearly many vets use transit.
While they are at it they should build a parking garage, right now their employees spill over onto parking lots on Grandel and other locations, hopefully they can free up some of those lots for other uses.
Actually, Steve, you should really PUSH your “expand to the East” proposal. Whether or not patients and visitors will use transit, I think it’s important to preserve disabled parking and vehicle drop off on the East side. So why not place the building addition on columns, retain grade level disabled parking and vehicle drop-off essentially where it currently exists, then build levels 2 thru ? above the covered parking below….much like old Incarnate Word Hospital at Grand/Layfayette did when HOK designed their ICU building.
I’ve got some ideas on how to have auto access at grade level with the tower on top and shallow retail spaces along Grand.