The Louisiana Department of Transportation & Development may be causing traffic delays for Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center’s new facility in Livingston Parish.
At a community meeting Tuesday evening, CEO Scott Wester told a gathering of politicians and community leaders that DOTD has stalled necessary roadway permits because of problems that existed before the medical center bought the property.
The agency wants Walker South Road [La. 447] widened from Interstate 12 to Buddy Ellis Road — that’s the stretch leading to the medical center’s proposed entrances — and the I-12 overpass leading into Walker expanded. That alone could cost as much as $30 million. The problem is that funds aren’t currently appropriated to make the necessary infrastructure improvements, leaving OLOL to possibly foot the bill so hospital construction can move forward.
“It’s pulling teeth to get state officials to recognize what a gem this is,” Wester says. “DOTD looks to us to solve problems with the road that existed even before we bought the property.”
Local officials have led a letter-writing campaign — including a plea from Congressman Bill Cassidy — asking Louisiana Economic Development Secretary Stephen Moret to consider tapping the governor’s Mega-Project Fund for Economic Development for the roadway improvements, but thus far to no avail. The megafund was designed to help attract major job-producing deals to Louisiana or to spur large expansions of existing companies.
In the meantime, OLOL has pushed back groundbreaking to the first quarter of 2010, and is phasing in construction to reduce its potential impact on traffic in hopes of securing the permits. The first phase will include only outpatient diagnostic services, physician offices and an emergency room, but the design is such to allow for later additions, including beds for inpatient treatment.
Gary Jump, vice president of professional services for OLOL, says a DOTD traffic study indicated Walker South Road can’t adequately handle the volume that’s already on the road, even without the medical center there. The agency indicated it will tentatively accept the first phase “because it’s not as big of a burden as the 10-year plan,” Jump says. “We’re closer to having the first go-ahead.”
DOTD spokesman Mark Lambert says the agency requires new developments to conduct an impact study to determine what improvements need to be made to handle traffic flow. Until those improvements are made, the necessary permits can’t be issued. The intent, he says, is to control sprawl. As for paying for those improvements, Lambert notes the agency has a $14 billion backlog of projects — including the widening of roads like La. 447.
“Imagine what happens if a hospital is built on a two-lane road,” he says. “When La. 447 was built, it was not built to contain a major population center and a hospital sitting on 200 acres. It was a country road. What happened is there was a population explosion out there, and there’s been no real consideration given to the cost of infrastructure upgrades. Just because a lot of people have moved there doesn’t mean DOTD has gotten more resources to meet that demand. We have no more money available for it than when that was a country road.”
OLOL has bought 236 acres on the site, which is larger than the property on which its main medical center on Essen Lane in Baton Rouge sits. The hospital expects 175,000 patient visits in the first year, climbing to 400,000 annual visits in a decade. The facility is expected to create 250 jobs in the first year and up to 800 in the next five to 10 years.
Wester says Livingston Parish accounts for a significant portion of its clients in Baton Rouge. Currently, more than 11% of its inpatient visits, 9% of its outpatient visits and 15% of its physician visits are residents of the parish. The medical center is just part of OLOL’s expansion into the area. Its physician group has also opened family practices in Watson and Denham Springs, and a Lake After Hours in Watson, and is considering further growth in Watson. Wester says OLOL has six or seven physicians in the parish “and we want to double if not triple that over the years.” A number of Baton Rouge primary care physicians have expressed an interest in opening offices at the new medical center site as well.
The CEO says the project also has been affected by the financial crisis and wetlands mitigation [OLOL is awaiting U.S. Army Corps of Engineers approval of its plan for that as well]. “The cost of wetlands mitigation is very expensive,” Wester says. “We found that out the hard way.”
Livingston Parish, which has one of the fastest-growing populations in the country and is expected to double in size by 2030, currently has no hospital. North Oaks Regional Medical Center is also building one in Satsuma.
