MVHS starts assembling construction fencing around site of nearly $550 million downtown hospital

UTICA, N.Y. — The Mohawk Valley Health System (MVHS) says crews on Thursday began putting together the construction fence that will surround the site of the planned MVHS hospital in downtown Utica.

Crews will place the fence around the location of the estimated $548 million regional medical center building. It will run from State Street along Columbia Street to Broadway, along Broadway to Lafayette Street, down Lafayette Street back to State Street, and along State Street to Columbia Street, according to MVHS.

The assembly process will continue for about 10 business days. Crews will also place Jersey barriers (modular concrete or plastic barriers that separate lanes of traffic) along the perimeter of the building site, and the fencing will follow that placement. The barriers will be set up in the parking lanes along Columbia and Lafayette Streets and will be on the inside of the sidewalks along State Street and Broadway.

Once the fence is in place, crews will start abatement of the buildings within the site of the new hospital building, MVHS said.

Traffic impacts

As the assembly process begins, street parking from State Street to Broadway on Columbia and Lafayette Streets will no longer be available. Additionally, Cornelia Street, from Columbia to Lafayette, will be closed to traffic when the fence is completed.

The aforementioned streets will see potential traffic delays during the delivery of the Jersey barriers and placement of the fencing. These delays could occur from Thursday through Oct. 24, depending on how long assembly takes, MVHS said.

A flagger will be on site to direct traffic around the trucks delivering the barriers. Delivery and assembly of the fence will take place between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. each business day.

Updates on this and other construction information will be available on the MVHS website here: www.mvhealthsystem.org/construction.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com