December 3, 2020 — 17 Work Days Until December 23, 2020, the Scheduled Date for When the Official Transfer of the New Hospital to Loma Linda University Health Takes Place

This post’s featured image is of the northeast elevation of the new hospital towers on the Dennis and Carol Troesh Medical Campus as viewed from the mound where the original Sanitarium stood. From this vantage point, the Adult Hospital tower dwarfs the clover-leaf towers to the right and appears to rival the silhouetted Loma Linda Hills (center left) and Blue Mountain (center right).

In these two images juxtaposed side by side, we see the progress on the right that was hard, if not impossible, to imagine four years prior. To the left, the Loma Linda University Medical Center was the dominant structure on campus and its iconic clover-leaf towers could be seen throughout the Inland Empire. At the time the image on the left was taken, the pit, for the most part, was at subgrade some two-stories below grade. The dirt ramp still remained to allow heavy equipment access to the bottom of the pit. In fact, the dirt ramp would be relocated one more time to the northeast corner one more time before cranes would take the place of the dirt ramps. The image to the right depicts the project as it nears completion. Out of the pit rises a sixteen-story Adult Hospital tower and a ten-story Children’s Hospital. This mammoth structure rests on base isolators and stabilized by dampers that are engineered to work in tandem as they absorb the seismic waves. Although the iconic clover-leaf towers remain, they are now dwarfed by the glass tower of the Adult Hospital. Today, the east elevation of the Schuman Pavillion is partially obscured, as shown in the photo to the right, by the Schuman Pavillion Elevator Tower. The Schuman Pavilion pedestrian bridge limits the view of the Medical Center’s east tower. The image to the right also depicts the new Main Entrance driveway, which is being graded and compacted before paving the first layer of asphalt.

The Evolving Main Entrance Driveway

Public access to the Dennis and Carol Troesh Medical Campus is via Prospect Avenue off of Anderson Street.

The Main Entrance island with the entrance to the right and exit to the left as viewed from Prospect Avenue.

The Main Entrance (west side) as viewed from Prospect Avenue.

The Exit (east side) as viewed from Prospect Avenue.

The north parking lot will be located in the area where the construction trailers are now parked.

At the apex of the Main Entrance island is the passenger drop-off/loading area.

In reaching final grade for the Main Entrance, transitional dirt piles accumulate. Once the dirt is compacted at grade level, the access dirt is removed.

Dennis E. Park, MA

After graduate school Dennis accepted a position at Loma Linda University. He worked there for 42 years in the areas of administration and financial management, also teaching accounting and management to dietetic students at the School of Public Health. Through the years Dennis has chronicled the growth of the campus, including the construction of the Drayson Center and the Centennial Complex and the razing of Gentry Gym. He is the author of "The Mound City Chronicles: A Pictorial History of Loma Linda University, A Health Sciences Institution 1905 - 2005." dEp 09.30.2016 🔨

← November 23, 2020, the Countdown Begins — 24 Work Days Until December 23, 2020, When the Scheduled Date for the Official Transfer of the New Hospital Takes Place

December 6, 2020 — 15 Work Days Until December 23 →