Construction updates

Feb. 25, 2020
Changes coming to South Road garage as construction of VA building to start

Changes to the exits and entrances of the South Road visitor and patient garage at the UMass Medical School—UMass Memorial Medical Center university campus will begin in March in preparation for construction of a clinical building that will house the VA Central Western Massachusetts Healthcare System’s new community-based outpatient clinic (CBOC).

The garage changes will occur in phases, from mid-March through summer.

Construction will start with the relocation of the access road to the southeast entrance of the garage (closest to Lake Ave.). The existing road will stay open during construction of a temporary road. When the temporary road is done, traffic will be diverted to it for access to the southeast entrance of the garage.

The southeast entrance will eventually be closed permanently to make way for construction of the new building and garage addition.

The next phase will begin in April at the west entrance to the garage (closest to Plantation St.). Currently the access road is one-way leading to the entrance of the garage. The road will be widened and feature two lanes entering and two lanes exiting the garage. A left turn lane will flow off the widened access road for valet parking or patient drop-off in front of the Ambulatory Care Center (ACC). The widening of the road will occur in phases to maintain access to the garage and the ACC.

After the new west entrance road is widened and two-way access to the garage is completed, the garage exit will change. The area will change from three exit lanes to one entrance lane and two exit lanes. At this time, the southeast entrance to the garage will close permanently.

UMass Medical School is building the four-story, 100,000 square-foot clinical building on the site of the former Massachusetts Department of Transportation District 3 Headquarters. The community-based outpatient clinic will occupy the first two levels of the building and replace the VA’s Lincoln Street facility in Worcester.

The VA’s specialty clinic at 377 Plantation St. will remain. That clinic, offering podiatry, audiology and optometry services, opened in 2016 through a partnership between the VACWMA and UMMS.

Key features of the new clinic include 65 exam, consultation and procedure rooms designed for patient-aligned care teams. Specialty care, including radiology, echocardiology, physical and occupational therapy, a clinical lab and a pharmacy will be located within the clinic. There will be 270 parking spaces in a new surface lot dedicated for VA patients and staff.