Memorial Hospital poised to start street closures

YAKIMA, Wash. -- Street closures tied to the future expansion of Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital are expected to take effect by late this year, changing the traffic pattern in one of the city's central neighborhoods.

The closures are part of a 30-year development plan for Memorial that the City Council approved in January, although construction of new buildings isn't expected to start for another five to 10 years.

Closing the streets sooner had always been part of the plan, said Jim Aberle, a hospital vice president. That gives time for landscaping to mature and allows related street changes to be put in place in the surrounding Barge-Chestnut neighborhood.

The exact timeline for the traffic-related work is still being negotiated between the hospital and the city, but Aberle said Monday that he hopes the hospital will complete a key construction element by mid-November.

Under the development plan approved by the city, the hospital will construct a "diverter" at the intersection of 28th and Walnut avenues to steer traffic around the eastern edge of the eventual complex toward Chestnut Avenue, blocking 28th up to Tieton Drive. Two other street closures -- 29th and 30th between Tieton and Chestnut -- will become permanent once the diverter is constructed.

Local property owners will still have access to the closed sections.

The hospital has budgeted $200,000 for construction of the diverter and related work.

The street closure process was triggered earlier this month when the hospital paid the city $127,000, calculated at half of the assessed value of the improvements the city had done to the streets over the years, said city planner Jeff Peters.

The city earlier set aside $50,000 to cover additional stop signs and traffic-slowing devices known as speed humps and speed cushions that will be installed in other parts of the neighborhood.

Those changes will take place north of Tieton Drive and south of Barge Street between 36th and 22nd avenues.

Residents of the Barge-Chestnut neighborhood often complain that drivers use residential streets to cut between Tieton Drive and Summitview Avenue. Representatives of the Barge-Chestnut Neighborhood Association worked with the city to incorporate the traffic-slowing changes as part of the hospital's planned expansion.

Speed humps are a lower and longer version of a parking lot speed bump. Speed cushions, which will be installed only on 32nd Avenue, are similar to the humps but are split into three sections across the road. That allows emergency vehicles to skip the bumpy spots on their way to the hospital.

Aberle said he expects the hospital to announce when work dates are finalized so that drivers can began making adjustments to their travel patterns.

On the Web
■  For more information: www.yakimamemorial.org/about-us-campus-
master-plan.asp

* Mark Morey can be reached at 509-577-7671 or mmorey@yakimaherald.com.