New hospital: SDHB moots 'park and walk' plan

A draft illustration of how the building layout of the new Dunedin Hospital might look. IMAGE:...
A draft illustration of how the building layout of the new Dunedin Hospital might look. IMAGE: MINISTRY OF HEALTH
Hospital staff, non-urgent patients, and visiting family members could be expected to use a "park and walk" facility mooted for the edge of Dunedin’s CBD.

More details have emerged from the submissions to the major city centre traffic overhaul proposed by the Shaping Future Dunedin Transport project which comes as plans for the new Dunedin Hospital take shape.

The Southern District Health Board submission to the multi-agency group, including the NZ Transport Agency and Dunedin City and Otago Regional Councils, calls for parking on the edge of the CBD.

Wharf St and the warehouse precinct — each several hundred metres from the hospital site — are mentioned as options.

"These type of [parking] areas are likely to generate fewer driving trips within the CBD and encourage people to walk to their final destination," the SDHB submission said.

Parking space in Wharf St would need to be accessible 24/7 so hospital staff working late shifts had the option to park there.

There should also be a frequent shuttle service running between the car park and the hospital.

This should run into the night so hospital staff finishing late did not have to walk to their cars in darkness.

When it comes to parking in the CBD, the SDHB said it was "crucial" it was available for people with disabilities, the elderly and parents of young children.

The SDHB has also backed the otherwise unpopular proposal of a two-way system through the city centre to replace the one-way State Highway1 system.

While 77% of respondents to an online survey this winter wanted to retain the one-way system as the city "grows and develops", the SDHB argues the one-way system would make the new city-centre hospital more "isolated".

"Large vehicles (e.g. stock trucks) would be less likely to drive near the hospital with the state highway re-routed and thus create a safer environment for other road users (e.g. pedestrians and cyclists)," the health board’s submission states.

The New Zealand Heavy Haulage Association, on behalf of local transport operators, called for the one-way system to be retained.

It was concerned a proposed "harbour arterial" route along Wharf and Thomas Burns Sts, aimed at getting heavy vehicles out of the CBD, would not be suitable for oversized vehicles.

"The harbour arterial route for oversize freight has major limitations and would not generally be supported as it is currently configured," it says.

"There are overhead restrictions such as bridges at Andersons Bay Rd and Wharf/Jetty [Sts] intersection which would count this out as an oversize route ... [so a suitable alternative route for oversize loads would need to be provisioned]."

hamish.maclean@odt.co.nz

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Since when did it become the duty of the SDHB to ensure Hospital staff and visitors get more exercise and reduce the vehicular movements in this city?!?.....Will future visitors be subjected to questionnaires about their eating habits before being allowed access?

Additionally, why is it important that the hospital building doesn't feel 'isolated' when their 'duty of care' should be INSIDE the hospital?!.....Has the SDHB heard of double glazing?

One of the duties of this SDHB should be to ensure visits to the public hospital are as convenient as possible for ALL users. Apparently they cannot do this, and instead want to make themselves an extension of the 'anti-car' brigade at the DCC.

"These type of [parking] areas are likely to generate fewer driving trips within the CBD and encourage people to walk to their final destination,"
They got the first bit partially right.
It's the second bit that will reduce the first.
I go to business that have parking close to where I purchase stuff so I don't have to carry it too far to the car, so I can get it home!
From what I see around the city, that is normal!
The SDHB needs to keep to it's knitting and provide health services, not try to reshape the city to fit the ideology of it's elites.

This plan is just absolute B.S. !

Let me see, who is the chair of the SDHB..?

Somebody with a penchant for squandering ratepayer/taxpayer money on personal crusades.....

Yes, a desire to make the area around the hospital safer for non-motorised traffic is just an awful waste of money!
We should get ride of footpaths and increase the speed limit to encourage more people into cars.
Ideally, the hospital should be a drive through, then you would not even have to leave your car.

so after a big shift working at the hospital they have walk back that far... nah.. doubt its gonna happen

A few hundred meters is 'far'!?
We have got soft in this modern age, haven't we?

Wake up it is also about Staff safety and Duty of Care for workers, remember those same Nurses, Doctors, and Other Hospital Staff who have worked through out Covid-19 - to help us yes you me and others and continue to do so.
They get paid stuff all in NZ and put us all first before there families. Modern age look around at all the scum we have around who don't care about people.

Why is the SDHB not addressing the idea of a multi-stored carpark on the adjacent site to the new hospital? Everyone who has had an opinion about hospital parking thinks this is a great idea.

Stop. Think. Who are the users of a hospital? Are they fit, healthy, and mobile? For example, is a patient with lung problems and who is having difficulty breathing, and is attending a 'non-urgent' or 'routine' appointment, going to be able to stagger and gasp all the way from the car park, actually going to get to their appointment? Or will they collapse on the way? It's one way to reduce crowded waiting rooms. Accessible and affordable parking is essential for a 21st century hospital. Going to the hospital is not a recreational activity. It is a life-sustaining necessity for many people. Quality of life is important. Making the sick, frail, and disabled have to walk that far to get treatment is cruelty. It is inhumane. Alleviate suffering - build a parking building that is attached to the new hospital.

It's not like that with the frail, ambulatory challenged. They make a call and are collected. They certainly should not be driving.

Situation Normal what do people expect with Cull as part of the board. He is a yes yes yes sir three bags full sir to his seniors and this on the same path as him. All others are I can't hear you or see you, did somebody say something. and that is why Cull is on that board. Wake up Dunedin

As an in-patient at DPH one thing I noticed was the stress for patients and relatives, many who were from outside Dunedin, in finding somewhere to park. Same problem when attending as an outpatient. This whole thing is a shambles. Similar situation in Christchurch and now they are having to build a car park. Don't they ever learn. A car park should be an integral part of the whole build. If they don't understand that then sack them and get a fresh team in.

David, I think the DCC expects patients, relatives and those outside Dunedin to park at LookoutPoint and bus in, walk 1/2 KM to appointments and repeat it on the way home, Agree sack the lot and get a new crew in especially Cull.

Only a foolish group of planners would allow a hospital to be built with inadequate parking. Sounds about right for Dunedin. Can't they learn from the Christchurch debacle?

This suggestion is ludicrous. Why isn't a parking building being planned close to the new hospital? You can't expect hospital visitors and staff to park so far away - and how secure will they be at night, even if dropped off and picked up? They'll be sitting ducks for people with criminal intent. A parking building would provide a constant revenue source to boot and help to offset DHB costs. A park and ride idea is just nonsense - and an admission of a complete failure of planning for the hospital. Once again, parking is an afterthought. Epic fail.

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