advertisement

Harrisburg to temporarily close portion of Woolcott Street Monday

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">A portion of Woolcott Street that borders the north side of Harrisburg Medical Center will close Monday morning, Harrisburg Street and Public Improvements Superintendent Rick Brown said Thursday.

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The closure is temporary, he said, but will last until construction on an expansion project at HMC is finished, he said.

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">"This is not a permanent closure," he said.

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Traffic coming from Vince Ashley Drive will be routed around the east side of the hospital to Clarke Street, he said. Traffic coming from the west will turn north on Michigan Street for a block, then turn back east onto National Street and procede to Vince Ashley Drive.

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Woolcott Street will be closed from Michigan Street to Vince Ashley Drive.

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Brown said several times that the closure is not a permanent one. He said according to the construction's general contractor, the project should be done in a few months.

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">"When I spoke to the contractor, he said four months," Brown said.<br />He said because various workers will need to be in the area in or around that portion of Woolcott Street during construction, it would not be safe to leave the street open.

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">"It's a safety issue," he said.

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Also a safety issue was the routing of the through traffic, he said.

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">"The hospital was good enough to allow access around back, which helped because we didn't want two-way traffic on National Street. It's very narrow," he said.

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The hospital construction is an expansion to provide increased service to the Harrisburg area.