St. Mary’s neighbors concerned about lack of lighting, traffic

The grand opening of the new $218 million St. Mary’s Hospital in Jefferson City is just days away.

However, there are concerns coming from neighbors of the new hospital.

They said their normal quiet, dead-end street is not built to handle the traffic they’ll be seeing when the new complex opens.

Residents on Rolling Hills Drive were initially told the St. Mary’s entrance at the end of their street would be a temporary construction entrance.

But with the hospital now complete, reality is setting in that their quiet street is about to become the south entrance of the complex.

Not only are the streets not built for that traffic, the lighting is even worse. Some said the lack of lighting is downright dangerous.

“A lot of people have kids who ride their bikes to the park, they walk their dogs, and with the amount of traffic we’re anticipating, it’s going to get pretty dangerous,” said neighbor Ed Nelson.

Nelson said with no sidewalks, it’s even more concerning for neighbors.

All residents really want is more lighting, so ABC 17 went to check out their concerns.

A few hundred feet from Nelson’s house on the other side of a construction gate it’s a different story. You can see the difference from the St. Mary’s parking lot to the homes on Rolling Hills Drive. It’s like looking down a dark hole.

Nelson said he made several calls before reaching out to ABC 17 News as a last resort.

“I’ve talked to Ameren, I’ve talked to the hospital, I’ve talked to the city, I tried to call the mayor today.”

He said some didn’t even bother to call him back.

ABC 17 called the city and Ameren. The city said they believe there are enough lights but Ameren did tell us they intend to install more lights near St. Mary’s, however they didn’t say when or where.

Nelson said he just moved into the neighborhood about a year ago and never would have bought the home if he tough the entire east side of town would use it for a shortcut to the hospital.