Hospitals and healthcare businesses are working to ensure construction, cranes, and traffic don’t disrupt one of the region’s vital health care hubs during construction of a new Royals stadium.
Hospitals near the new Royals stadium are already planning for construction and traffic disruptions
Charlie Shields, president and CEO of University Health, said the location of the future stadium near the Health Sciences District brings both excitement and a challenge the district is working through together.
Hospitals near the new Royals stadium are already planning for construction and traffic disruptions
“First, we’re excited,” Shields told KSHB 41 News reporter Ryan Gamboa. “We think the fact that the Royals are going to be located in the Crossroads area, or south Crossroads area in close proximity to our health sciences district. We think that’s great. There’s opportunity for expansion on this campus.”
Shields acknowledged the scale of what’s ahead, including bi-weekly meetings that have already begun with the Royals, Children’s Mercy Hospital, Ronald McDonald House, and UMKC.
“It will bring some challenges,” Shields said. “There’s gonna be a lot of construction going on, a lot of traffic. But we’ve talked about those in almost bi-weekly meetings including the Royals, Children’s Mercy Hospital, Ronald McDonald House, UMKC. We’ve really started that communication path very intentionally, knowing that getting ahead of that now is important when we get into construction, those bi-weekly meetings will be so we can address challenges will be extremely important.”
Residents submitted questions and concerns to KSHB 41 about how a downtown stadium would affect emergency services in the nearby hospital district. Shields said questions about construction logistics, including where demolition trucks will exit the former Hallmark headquarters site and where cranes will be positioned are already being addressed.
“As they begin demolition, on the what was Hallmark headquarters, and begin excavation on what will be the Royals stadium, where do these trucks exit that are carrying those materials out, that’s a discussion,” he said. “Knowing some crane placements, knowing where those are going to be. How does that affect traffic out of both hospitals, Children’s and University Health.”…