BC Emergency Health Services is monitoring traffic to ensure ambulances can get to Royal Columbian Hospital promptly.
Pat Muise voiced concerns at city council’s March 24 meeting about “choke points” that the city is placing “all over” New West, including around Royal Columbian Hospital. The New West resident is concerned ambulances are getting stuck in traffic trying to access Royal Columbian Hospital’s emergency department.
“You just put one on East Columbia that could possibly cost lives,” he told council.
Muise told council there have been four recent instances of ambulances being delayed because of the narrowing of East Columbia Street.
“It's insane that you cut that street down to two lanes,” he said. “You're making these choke points all over the city, and they're costing the taxpayers money.”
The Record contacted BC Emergency Health Services to inquire if paramedics have voiced concerns about the road changes around Royal Columbian Hospital.
In a statement to the Record, BCEHS said it was notified in advance of the construction on East Columbia and Sherbrooke streets and has worked with RCH on updating its protocols for parking and hospital access while the work is ongoing.
“Operational leaders have provided paramedic crews with daily messaging about the impacts of the construction and notified paramedics during periods of high congestion,” said the statement. “BCEHS dispatchers also constantly monitor road closures and traffic congestion and can assist paramedic crews with finding alternate routes when needed.”
The Record also contacted Fraser Health to see if it had heard any concerns from paramedics about accessing the hospital.
In a statement to the Record, Fraser Health said any ambulance- or paramedic-related questions should be answered by BCEHS.
“We expect the work outside of Royal Columbian Hospital on East Columbia Street and adjacent work at Sherbrook Street, which are part of the City of New Westminster's Great Streets vision, to be complete by late April 2025,” said Amory Wong, senior consultant, communications.
According to Wong, once the Jim Pattison acute care tower is open, the new emergency department will be accessed via Sherbrooke Street. That’s expected to occur in early 2026.
Mike Anderson, the city’s transportation manager, said the design for East Columbia Street adjacent to Royal Columbian Hospital was developed with ambulance access as a key priority.
“The final paving and installation of pavement markings should be completed later in April, at which point there will be a painted median on East Columbia Street between the traffic lanes,” he said. “This median was specifically designed to allow for ambulance use when necessary.”
Road changes
In March 2024, Fraser Health issued a public notice about improvements coming to East Columbia and Sherbrooke streets.
“The City of New Westminster has plans to turn East Columbia Street into a ‘Great Street’ — a more pedestrian- and cycling-friendly street with enhanced sidewalks, better lighting, bike lanes and safer intersections,” said the notice. “As part of the Royal Columbian Hospital redevelopment, the project is required to improve the frontages around the campus.”
Lisa Leblanc, the city’s director of engineering, responded to Muise’s concerns at the council meeting.
Leblanc said a transportation study was required as part of the Royal Columbian Hospital redevelopment project.
“The designs that resulted from that analysis were vetted and were completed with the analysis in mind,” she said. “So of course, we took into account the fact that ambulances and hospital transfers are coming and going from that location, and that it's necessary to move a lot of people to and from, so that was factored into both the geometric design on the street and the traffic control that's in place.”
Coun. Daniel Fontaine questioned if city staff had followed up with paramedics to determine if the traffic changes have slowed their ability to get into the RCH emergency department.
“We have not heard anything from the paramedics and BC Ambulance or any of the drivers, so it's not something that we proactively monitor or seek comment on it,” Leblanc said. “If there were a problem, the expectation would be that they would alert city staff, and we would see what we can do about addressing the problems that are arising. To date, we have not heard that from BC Ambulance or from Fraser Health.”
Fontaine said the two bike lanes that have been created on East Columbia Street, one on the east side and one on the west side of the street, have “really narrowed” the road. He questioned the rationale for placing bike lanes on both sides of the street.
“I have been there during rush hour where I'm stuck,” he said. “I only imagine that others would be stuck as well, including ambulances.”
Leblanc said the East Columbia Great Street plan evolved over a number of years and responded to several plans, including the city’s master transportation plan, the Sapperton Massey Victory Heights transportation plan, and the hospital redevelopment plan.
“The design of the East Columbia Great Street is based on best practice, which, wherever we can, we prefer to put unidirectional mobility lanes so that there's one moving in the same direction of this traffic on each side of the road,” she said. “That can't always work; there are some locations where the road geometry doesn't allow it.”
Leblanc said there was space at this location to support unidirectional lanes, which means wheeled devices will be moving in the same direction as the motor vehicles on both sides of the street.
“The short answer is, it's following best practice, there was sufficient space, and it's considered a safer option when there's space available to do it,” she said.
Hospital expansion
Phase 1 of the Royal Columbian Hospital redevelopment project featured the construction of a new 75-bed mental health and substance use wellness centre. It opened in the summer of 2020.
Phase 2, which is currently underway, includes construction of a new acute care tower with more beds for intensive care, cardiac intensive care medicine and surgical patients, a new, larger emergency department, and more maternity beds and a maternity operating room. It will also see the creation of a "super floor" that includes three more operating rooms, three more cardiology suites, two more suites for diagnostic radiology and one more MRI.
“The Jim Pattison acute care tower is on track to be completed in 2025,” Wong said. “Throughout the fall we will be working to ensure we are ready to provide safe and quality patient care in the new building. We expect to be able to open our doors at the Jim Pattison acute care tower for patients in early 2026.”
The third phase of the RCH redevelopment project will upgrade and expand areas in existing buildings to support the beds and services in Phase 2.
According to the province, the redevelopment project will increase the hospital's capacity by approximately 50 per cent.
The provincial government, Fraser Health, and the Royal Columbian Hospital Foundation are funding the three-phased redevelopment project.
