Editor, The Smithfield Times:

As a resident of the Benn’s Grant community, I would like to share my opinion on the one and only entrance/access to the new Riverside Hospital.

Currently there are 500-plus residential units using that entrance at various times during the day. Numerous buses come to the area to pick up students twice a day. The afternoon bus already  creates a backup at the corner of Spring Hill and Oak Hill, which then backs up onto Benn’s Grant Boulevard.

I can’t imagine what adding hospital staff, visitors and emergency vehicles to that entrance during an afternoon when children are being dropped off from school is going to look like. 

I’m so surprised that a second access road is being removed from the site plan. The hospital had a virtual meeting with residents during COVID and at that time assured people there would be two access points or entrances to the hospital. That certainly was a relief as there was concern about an ambulance accessing the emergency room and avoiding regular congestion. 

To think one is adequate is not reasonable. With their planning you would think they would make adjustments for the added residential traffic in the area.

FYI, an apartment building is still under construction just south of this project with an entrance that has no traffic light. Not a safe alternative for residents to use in place of Benn’s Grant Boulevard.

 

Dawn Schneider

Smithfield