Road closure will disrupt hospital access
Access and parking around Christchurch Hospital are about to get even worse.
Already in the midst of a major rebuild programme that is disrupting parking and traffic, the hospital will also be affected by nearby roadworks from next week.
The public, ambulances and taxis will be affected.
The disruption will be caused by the closure of Antigua St, between the boatshed bridge and Tuam St, from Monday until late April next year.
The closure will allow sewer works to be done and the road to be raised. Traffic at the hospital end of Oxford Tce will run from west to east, opposite to the existing direction.
Ambulances leaving the hospital’s eastern end will have to travel along this stretch of Oxford Tce. The street’s taxi rank will be moved, but hospital users will still be able to call a taxi from the hospital entrance. A container walkway on Antigua St will be removed. Pedestrian diversions will be put in, and cyclists will be diverted along Hagley Ave.
There is already a shared pedestrian and cycle route on Hagley Ave.
On Tuam St, alongside the Health Research Education Facility under construction, the footpath has been moved further into the street to make room for work on the building’s facade.
Roadworks are also under way on both Tuam and St Asaph streets.
The hospital is part-way through a construction programme that includes a $445 million new acute services building and a $72m new outpatients building, both due for completion next year.
The Nurses’ Memorial Chapel on the site is also being restored.
A nearby public car parking building for hospital patients and visitors was demolished after the earthquakes.
An outdoor car park was closed to make way for the new outpatients building.
There are drop-off areas at the hospital but no public parking, with the exception of disability parking.
The hospital runs a seven-daya-week shuttle service from a car park on Deans Ave.
Concern at the lack of safe and convenient parking for the hospital’s staff, patients, visitors and construction workers has led to calls for a new car parking building to be built.