Anna Jaques Hospital Signage

Dear Ward 4 Neighbor:

The City Council's Public Safety Committee will meet on Thursday, May 7 at 4:30PM at City Hall to discuss an Order re Anna Jaques Hospital (AJH) directional signage. I wanted you to know about the meeting and also ask for any feedback from you in terms of the signage locations.

There are a variety of reasons to access the Hospital: patients needing to go to an appointment, patients rushing for an emergency situation, staff going to work, ambulances in a hurry, and delivery vehicles.

Since the Access Road opened, the Hospital has worked with its vendors on delivery routes. While an emergency obviously requires the quickest route, the Hospital has worked with Ambulance services to minimize local impact.

In February, I sponsored two Orders to increase usage of the Access Road off Low Street, designed to reduce reliance on the narrow residential streets such as Hunter Drive, Rawson Avenue, Lafayette Street, Arlington Street, and Highland Avenue.

The Council passed the first Order which simply removed signage on Low St/Hunter Drive and put a sign across from the Access Road on Low Street.

At the same time a more complicated Order on overall Hospital signage across the City was referred to the Council's Public Safety Committee. This is the Committee which deals with traffic issues. I've inserted the language of that Order at the bottom.

This second Order removes and adds signs to direct routine patient and staff traffic to Low Street and the Access Road. In other words, if you're coming to AJH from Route 95, you'll be directed down Low Street at Storey Ave. If you're coming to AJH from the Chain Bridge, you'll be directed around to Low Street via Storey Ave. If you're coming to AJH from Rt. 1, you'll be directed to Low Street.

That said, I'm also in favor of retaining the signage on High Street at the base of Rawson Ave. If you're coming to AJH from High Street (ie North End) area, I think it makes sense for people to go up Rawson, especially in the event of a more immediate need, rather than route them all the way around to Low Street. The bottom line is that Rawson will still have much less traffic than it has in the past.

In Committee at the meeting this Thursday, there will be an opportunity to make any changes/removals/additions to this overall list. The most likely scenario is that this will be worked on in Committee, then brought back to the full Council.

Again please let me know if you have any feedback or any questions.

Thank you,

Ed Cameron
Ward 4 City Councillor
edcameronNBPT@gmail.com

Be It Hereby Ordered, That pursuant to Code Section 13-46 Placement of Devices the City Council is hereby authorized and required to place and maintain all official traffic signs, markings and safety zones and, more specifically, order and state as follows:

Remove current Hospital directional signage from intersection of Toppans Lane and Highland Avenue.

Remove current Hospital directional signage from High Street in front of Atkinson Common.

Remove current Hospital directional signage from Carey Avenue at intersection of High Street and Carey Avenue.

Add Hospital directional signage in two places to Route 1 Rotary under two existing Route 1 North signs.

Add Hospital directional signage at intersection of Pond Street and High Street under existing Route 1 sign.

Add Hospital directional signage at Northwest corner of intersection of Low Street, Route 1, and Pond Street. Signage would face towards Pond Street.

Add Hospital directional signage at North side of Low Street opposite Graf Road. Signage would face towards Graf Road.

Add Hospital directional signage (double-sided) on Storey Ave at Southern corner of intersection of Storey Avenue and Low Street. Signage would point down Low Street.

Add Hospital directional signage on Spofford Street near Moseley Woods. Signage would point South down Spofford Street.

Add Hospital directional signage on Ferry Road at Southwest corner of intersection of Ferry Road and Noble Street. Signage would point down Noble Street.

Add Hospital directional signage on Southern side of Storey Avenue opposite intersection of Storey Avenue and Noble Street. Signage would point West down Storey Avenue

Change direction of current Hospital directional signage at Northeast corner of intersection of Toppans Lane and Low Street to point straight.