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I. Background: Parking shortfalls are not new to Vanderbilt Medical Center. Projections are constantly being tracked with all the variables balanced to anticipate pinch points. We will reach one such point in August 2010 unless efforts are undertaken immediately to avert a significant shortfall. Public transit, shuttles from remote parking areas, off-loading to 100 Oaks, vanpooling incentives, etc., are all a part of the parking equation. The greatest need however, is the addition of new spaces within walking distance of our central Medical complex. It is for this reason that the difficult decision was made to move forward now with the conversion of the existing, 182-space, surface lot along the north side of Children’s Way (Lot 30) to a structured parking facility. The site for the new garage is across from Blair School of Music and adjacent to Mayfield Housing in the Highland Quad area. At present, it serves student parking all of which has been relocated to the existing 25th Avenue Garage—equally convenient to students and it places their cars under cover. Medical spaces pushed from the 25th Garage will be leased off-campus until this garage opens in September of 2010. With all university building sites being at such a premium, we must realize as many additional spaces as the adjoining roadways will reasonable allow. While an on-grade lot in the Morgan-Lewis area was envisioned in the 2002 Sasaki land use plan as eventually converting to structured parking, this timing is being driven by Medical demands. In conjunction with this deck, an interconnecting segment of roadway identified in Traffic Studies as offering circulation improvement will be included in this project. This new segment of road will open up the current dead end where Children’s Way runs into Natchez Trace. It will make a full intersection by continuing Children’s Way as a new street along the edge of the existing Natchez parking lots. The street will align with the existing blocks of 30th Avenue for a new link into West End avenue. The dimensions of this site lend themselves well to the ramping requirements of parking deck circulation. Balancing the need to maximize site use with concerns of how it visually fits into this neighborhood, resulted in the design of an 11-floor deck with 8 of those levels being underground and 3 above-grade. This facility will ultimately serve the vicinity quite well over time but requires us to undertake the unavoidably, disruptive process of blasting the underlying rock strata and hauling away tons of rock. This will take roughly 12 months starting in July of 2008 with the concrete work framing the deck out of the hole requiring the rest of the 24 months needed for completion. Every effort is going to taken to reduce the impact on all those who work and live in this area. We are extremely aware of the patience that is being asked of those students in particular who will be residing in proximity to this work. Meetings took place with student leaders last spring when the concept of the deck began getting support internally. We will establish times to meet and work through the many sets of issues that will inevitably emerge during this process. Our team of architects and the construction contractor have completed several underground parking facilities in downtown Nashville, some immediately adjacent to fragile, historic landmarks, that have the same issues we face here. We thank you in advance for helping us all through this process by understanding that no one wants to create the very real inconveniences that will be involved. We recognize that reality and ask for your patience. The broader requirements, however, of delivering Vanderbilt’s health care to the community were felt to force the timing to realize greater use of this parcel at this juncture. We are grateful for and sincerely ask your cooperation as we move forward. Thank you , II. Blasting: Beginning Thursday, July 31, 2008, the Contractor will start the process of blasting in order to construct the Children’s Way Parking Garage. We need to approach this aspect of the project as efficiently as possible to shorten our disturbance to this neighborhood, while balancing the impact during this disruptive stage. Work will start at 8:00 AM, Monday thru Friday, and at 9:00 AM on Saturday. You may see activity on the site prior to the start up times but noisy equipment will not be engaged. Blasting the rock will not necessarily be required at each time noted. It will be undertaken as needed given our progress on the site. The schedule is identified to inform you of when a blast could occur. Each blast will occur within two (2) minutes of the scheduled time. If for some reason the scheduled blast time is missed, then the shot will not be fired until the next scheduled time. Since the law does not allow a “charged” hole to be left overnight, if a delay occurs with a scheduled 3:00 PM blast, the contractor will coordinate the shot to occur before sundown. The 3:00 PM blast should, therefore, be the only exception to meeting these times. The blasting is scheduled to possibly be performed on Monday through Saturday at the following times:
Pedestrian and vehicular traffic will be cleared from the blasting area prior to each blast. Seismographs will be placed adjacent to the site to monitor the blast. Please note that the blasting process may generate a "sulfur" smell which you may experience.
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