Quote:
Originally Posted by lrt's friend
Yes, that was what I was thinking, extending right to Preston so there could be full integration with the Trillium Line.
I believe the main hospital buildings should be right next to and over the Trillium Line. Parking structures could be located further away from the transit line. We need to be thinking transit integration first. This is a much superior location compared to Island Park in this respect. But then, emergency vehicle access (access to the Queensway) may take precedence as far as preferred location.
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There is some access to the Queensway in this area. Rochester and Bronson have on- and off-ramps, but the on-ramp going East isn't until Metcalfe. They could just build the on-ramp at Bronson if they aren't doing that now.
One concern might be with helipad. Currently it's located across from the hospital. If they wanted to they could build a new helipad beside the hospital or on the roof (the roof would need to be specially designed to support it, and therefore would be much more costly). However, there might be an issue with the highrises nearby.
Airports have restricted height limits nearby not to interfere with flights, but I don't know if something similar exists for helicopters. It might not be a problem, but it's worth considering.
Another issue of concern is whether highrises hospitals are best. The current hospital is at its highest 8 floors, but they estimate ("they" being the fire department in the Civic) would take 10 hours to evacuate every patient, many of whom are connected to machines or have low mobility. It would be advisable to design a hospital that's more spread out and less tall with better egress routes for evacuation in case of fire that the hospital's fire department can't handle (we have a Code Red multiple times a day usually).. A highrise would take more time and effort to evacuate, unless they could put offices and some clinics higher up so that immobile patients at the lower levels could evacuate faster. It would be worth looking at how CHUM tries to account for this.
Otherwise, this is probably a much better location. It's more central, similar access, lots of residential opportunities, transit and cycling is adjacent to the site. They just need to build lots of underground parking instead of anything on the surface or parking garages. Arguably, its proximity to the Prince of Wales Parkway might make it easier for some people driving to access the hospital.
(One more thing to consider is how they would integrate the former dining hall for the SJC Building, as that is all that's left).