If motorists in Lancaster city are upset over being detoured around Lancaster General Hospital's construction project closing North Duke Street, they haven't shown it.
A construction worker uses a wrench Friday to tighten bolts on the pedestrian bridge being installed o
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Part of the steel frame that will support a two-level pedestrian walkway over North Duke Street is low
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Shari Conk of Columbia, an employee of Flagger Force in Harrisburg, directs traffic on North Duke Stre
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Lancaster police Sgt. Jarrad Berkheiser, stationed outside LGH to help with traffic, said Friday that he hadn't heard of any problems.
"Nobody complained to us, anyway," he said.
Lancaster Mayor Rick Gray said the project's first day went well.
"I spoke with (Sgt. Gary Metzger) of the traffic division earlier today, and he said everything has gone smoothly," Gray said.
Heeding signs that part of North Duke Street would be closed Friday, motorists sought alternate routes into Lancaster.
"Between the signs and our people directing traffic, it seemed like things went pretty well," John Lines, a spokesman for Lancaster General Hospital, said.
The 500 block of North Duke Street will remain closed until 7 a.m. May 12 while a pedestrian walkway is built over the street, connecting LGH with a new medical office building being erected on the west side of Duke Street.
"People have been avoiding Duke Street," Gray said.
North Prince Street was another matter. Generally busy to begin with, both lanes were practically bumper-to-bumper all the way to McGovern Street.
As for access to LGH, Lines said the hospital had emergency medical technicians stationed all day at Duke and Frederick streets to assist people heading to the hospital's emergency room.
People in need of immediate help, Lines said, were directed straight to the hospital's ambulance entrance to the emergency room off Duke Street. That area of Duke Street is otherwise closed to traffic.
"If (emergency technicians) determined a patient was stable, then they were directed to go around the block to get to the main emergency room entrance" off James street, he said.
Hospital staff stationed at Duke and Frederick streets Friday also were handing out maps to motorists heading to the hospital.
"We wanted to make sure people could find their way around if they got into a neighborhood they weren't familiar with," Lines said.
Traffic on North Duke Street was sparse Friday afternoon, and the few cars that did venture up as far as the hospital were detoured onto Frederick Street.
Only emergency vehicles can pass through the fenced-off Duke Street to reach the emergency room entrance.
Pedestrians wanting to get to the hospital are told by LGH personnel stationed outside to use the entrances on either Lime or James streets.
"We're keeping it under control," said Leanne Haas, a medic stationed at Duke and Frederick streets.
Lancaster General Hospital is currently building a four-story medical office building on the west side of North Duke Street and an 11-story parking garage between North Market and North Queen streets.
They will be connected to the hospital by a two-level glass-enclosed pedestrian walkway over the street.
Part of the steel skeleton of the walkway was already in place Friday afternoon. The 120-foot-long bridge will use 75 tons of steel, 10 tons of concrete and 7,200 square feet of 1-inch-thick safety glass.
It will stand 14 feet 6 inches over Duke Street.
LGH is spending between $35 million and $45 million on the new additions, including the walkway.
Intelligencer Journal staff writer P.J. Reilly contributed to this story.E-mail: lalexander@lnpnews.com
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