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Construction to reroute traffic

• Work on a hospital campus will close on of its entrances.

Barbara Rivera Holmes

For details about traffic changes at Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital, call the main line at (229) 312-1000 or visit www.phoebeputney.com and click on “traffic pattern changes.”

ALBANY — Construction work at an Albany hospital will result in a temporarily rerouting of traffic starting Sunday.

Officials at Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital in Albany said police officers will help steer traffic into the hospital’s Willson Way, which then will flow one-way, with vehicle entrance from Jefferson Avenue and vehicle exit on Second Avenue. The one-way status will remain until completion of its Medical Tower II sometime in December.

Some traffic signs already are in place on the hospital campus, and hospital officials ask that customers be patient.

Also because of the construction, entrance to the Medical Tower I will temporarily close; patients and visitors are to use the hospital’s main entrance.

Phoebe CEO Joel Wernick said construction is part of a “dynamic process” toward opening Medical Tower II, a $46.1 million project that ultimately will allow expansion of the medical oncology department at Phoebe’s Cancer Center and the reception and recovery areas of the surgery center.

John Fischer of Phoebe said the hospital’s free valet service will continue, as will the two shuttles that transport people from the parking lot to the main entrance.

Officials also said that new walkways will be provided from the multi-story car park on Second Avenue to the hospital.

The hospital, which has about 750,000 visits per year, has prepared a direct-mail campaign to inform customers in Dougherty, Lee and Worth counties, Phoebe spokeswoman Jackie Ryan said. Wernick said that 50 percent of the hospital’s patients are from outside Dougherty County.

The hospital officials are encouraging patients and visitors to inform staff of their concerns.

“We look to be Johnny-on-the-spot with these issues,” Wernick said.

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