Project will expand Wilmington Hospital employee parking garage
Update: With precast concrete work completed, massive cranes will depart hospital campus
A major construction project to expand the employee parking garage at Wilmington Hospital began June 19 and is scheduled to be completed in early November 2017. The employee parking garage will be expanded upward two levels, increasing parking from approximately 600 spaces to 900 spaces.
The erection of the precast concrete for two additional levels on the employee parking garage at Wilmington Hospital campus is complete.
Next steps include finishing work on the 5th & 6th floors, elevators, sprinklers and other details.
Here’s a timeline from now through Nov. 22 when the new fourth and fifth levels will be available for parking:
• Saturday, Sept. 9. The smaller, 12th Street crane will be disassembled removed. However, no road closures on or around Wilmington Hospital campus will be required.
• Sunday, Sept. 10. – Th larger crane between the visitor and employee parking garages will be disassembled and removed. Jefferson Street is scheduled to be closed from 6:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., but the street will be reopened as soon as the crane disassembly allows safe access on the street.
• Sept. 18. Elevator 1 will be back in service (levels 1-3).
• Sept. 26. The road and sidewalk between the two garages will be repaired reopened. (Garage access off Chamberlain now available)
• Friday, Sept. 25. Work on the fire line connection under Jefferson Street will impact traffic on the street. One lane will be kept open at all times with flaggers.
• Monday, Oct. 2. The fourth level will become available for parking but elevator service to the fourth level will not yet be available.
• Wednesday, Oct. 18. Elevator 2 will be available with service to floors 1-4. Elevator 1 will be off line while it is extended to the top floor.
• Wednesday, Nov. 15. Both elevators will be fully operational
• Late November. Levels five and six will open for employee parking.
“As we serve together and continue to build an environment that supports our extraordinary people in delivering excellence in all that we do, we are following the completion of our patient and visitor garage at Christiana Hospital with a new project that will improve employee parking at Wilmington Hospital,” said Sharon Kurfuerst, Ed.D., OTR/L, FACHE, senior vice president, health services operations. “The expansion of our employee garage at Wilmington Hospital will relieve parking congestion for our staff and support our continued ability to provide the very best care to our community.”
The visitor free-parking garage at Wilmington Hospital will remain open, and the impact of the construction project on visitors to the hospital will be minimal.
Christiana Care employee parking will be disrupted during the project due to the temporary loss of parking spaces; however, accommodations have been made to ensure ample parking for hospital employees close to the campus throughout construction.
The project will occur in several phases:
June 19 — Top level of employee parking garage closed
Demolition of the helipad requires closure of the entire top level of the employee parking garage and the temporary loss of 126 parking spaces. The top level of the employee garage was closed on June 19. Signs placed at the intersection of Delaware Avenue and Jefferson Street and at the garage entrance alert employees if the garage is full.
When full, staff should park in the lot across the street behind the Center for Virtual Health Building, 601 Delaware Ave., which is accessed through an entrance on Jefferson Street. Employee I.D. badges will enable access.
July 14 — July 16: Crane installation will affect traffic patterns at Wilmington Hospital
A large construction crane will be delivered to the campus by more than 20 trucks on Saturday, July 15. While the crane is being delivered and assembled, traffic will be rerouted on Jefferson Street and at the main entrance to the hospital. This process will be completed on Sunday, July 16, and traffic will be restored to normal patterns.
The crane’s delivery and assembly will require temporary closure of Jefferson Street and the main entrance to Wilmington Hospital. While Jefferson Street is closed, all vehicles will be directed to enter through the 13th Street entrance from Washington Street.
All parking during this weekend will be in the visitor garage, except for Emergency Department parking, which will continue to be on the surface lot. Everyone, including employees and visitors, will park in the visitor parking lot while the main entrance is closed.
July 16 — August 26: Access to employee garage will be limited to specific times
From July 16 through August 26, visitor parking and access to the hospital will return to normal.
Construction activity will limit access to the employee garage between 7:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. on weekdays. Employees will not be permitted to be in the employee parking garage and will not be able to access vehicles parked in the garage during those times. Parking spaces at the 601 Delaware Avenue lot and other lots near the campus will be provided.
Dayshift employees will not be able to park in the employee garage after 7:30 and may park in the lot across the street with an entrance from Jefferson Street between 11th and 12th streets. This lot is in the rear of the Center for Virtual Health, 601 Delaware Ave.
Card-accessed parking for employees will also be available at three nearby parking garages and three surface lots, all within a few minutes’ walk to the hospital. Free shuttle service will be available to employees from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. and from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. from the farthest lots.
To further ease parking constraints during this period of time, Christiana Care staff will be encouraged to teleconference or reschedule meetings usually held at Wilmington Hospital to another site when possible. Staff based at Christiana Hospital who need to attend a meeting at Wilmington Hospital will be encouraged to use the hospital shuttle to travel back and forth from the Wilmington campus.
Staff who work evening and overnight shifts will be instructed to park as follows:
- Staff reporting at 3 p.m. should use the 601 Delaware Avenue lot.
- Staff reporting after 3:30 p.m. should use the employee parking garage.
- Staff reporting after 7 p.m. should use the visitor parking garage.
New temporary parking locations for employees
| Location | Name | Spaces Available |
| 1 | Corporate Plaza Garage – Delaware Avenue and 11th Street | 35 |
| 2 | 500 Delaware Ave. Garage | 65 |
| 3 | 10th and Jefferson streets – Surface lot | 80 |
| 4 | 10th and Washington streets – Surface lot | 60 |
| 5 | PNC Bank Center Garage – 222 Delaware Ave. | 50 |
| 6 | 1001 Jefferson St. | 50 |
August 26 — September 10: Employee garage restrictions lifted, 4th level remains closed
On August 26, crane operation is expected to be completed, and timed access restrictions to the employee parking garage will be lifted. The top level of the garage will remain closed.
September 10 — November
The 4th floor of the employee parking garage will re-open, returning parking capacity to pre-construction numbers.
November 2017
The employee parking garage expansion will be completed in November 2017, when the two new levels will open for employee parking.
