Blasting starts today for planned Mary’s Avenue hospital expansion
Rock drilling and blasting is expected to begin Friday, June 12, at HealthAlliance of the Hudson Valley’s Mary’s Avenue campus.
The work is being done as part of a expansion of the hospital, according to Westchester County Medical Center Network, the parent company of HealthAlliance.
“HealthAlliance of the Hudson Valley, a member of the Westchester Medical Center Health Network (WMCHealth) is issuing courtesy announcements to surrounding businesses and neighborhoods that rock drilling and blasting necessary as part of the expansion and enhancement project for HealthAlliance Hospital on Mary’s Avenue will begin Friday, June 12 and continue for approximately one month,” a press release issued Thursday evening said. “These activities are part of the project’s site preparation process and are expected to occur from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.”
The blasting will be contained to a small area and will not present any danger to those outside the immediate detonation area, the release said.
“As an alert to those in proximity, horns will sound five minutes prior to the activity and then two horns will sound one minute prior to the blast,” the company said. “Once the blasting activity is complete, a single, long horn will sound, signifying the end of the activity.”
The company said such activities are “standard site preparation procedures for a construction project of this kind.
“Blasting activity will occur exclusively below ground and will be controlled with the required safety measures,” the release said.
Last fall, New York Lieutenant Gov. Kathy Hochul joined others at the groundbreaking for the $92.9 million, 127,000-square-foot expansion project.
The expanded Mary’s Avenue campus will feature the addition of a two-story, 79,000-square-foot building adjoining the current facility and renovation of 48,000 square feet of space within the existing hospital. Key components of the new 175-bed facility will include
a new 25,000-square-foot emergency care center; a new 10-bed intensive care unit; a six-bed medical “stepdown” unit; a new birthing center; an imaging department and fully remodeled centers for ambulatory surgery, infusion therapy and endoscopy.
Nearly all of the patient
rooms will be private.
The site contractor for this project is Merritt Construction of Saugerties. The blasting contactor is Alpha Drilling and Blasting of Queensbury. For answers to questions about the construction site, call Merritt Construction at (845) 247-2877.