Politics & Government

One Garage Down, Another to Go at VA Medical Center

The hospital just opened a new parking garage expansion to ease congestion. But with rapid growth on the horizon, another one is scheduled.

ο»Ώο»ΏIt was a common headache on Clairmont Road every morning. As veterans, employees and visitors poured into the in North Decatur, the traffic congestion would spill out onto Clairmont, delaying commuters on their way to Decatur and Atlanta. It got so bad DeKalb County police had to station an officer there each morning to direct traffic.

That situation got better in September after the medical center opened a $6 million expansion to its rear parking garage with 450 new spaces, bringing the total number of spots to 1,500.

But as the number of veterans requiring medical care rises, the center already is preparing to build another garage that will add 500 more spaces, according to Robin Brown, a medical center spokeswoman. Construction initially was supposed to begin at the end of December, but unspecified delays won't permit that, said Gregory Kendall, another center spokesman. Cost estimates also remain unclear.

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The medical center has served nearly 80,000 patients this year, Brown said, an 8 percent increase over last year. At its most congested, she said, parking issues didn't just cause problems for Clairmont Road motorists. It often took so long to park that patients were late for appointments, throwing clinicians' and doctors' schedules off.

Part of the delay was the center's valet service. Before the expansion opened, only medical center employees used the parking deck. All visitors were given complimentary valet service, and their cars were parked in a smaller lot in front of the medical center. That service has been cut back.

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The new construction projects are a reaction to a decade of steady growth. The medical center only served about 43,000 patients in 2000; now, it's serving almost twice that number. Medical center officials don't expect that growth to slow down either, said Kendall. As American military conflicts abroad wind down, the center expects its number of yearly unique patients to continue growing at the same rate over the next decade.

"We're confident we'll have the resources to maintain," Brown said. "We're just going to have to continue being proactive and continue providing access."


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