Answer extracted from the Forum Focus podcast — listen to the full episode below.
How do you move traffic around a hospital construction site in a dense urban intersection?
The key is removing vehicles from the congested area entirely. Staging areas and radio-coordinated truck arrivals keep the intersection at Kings Highway and Barnes clear during construction, while lane widening on the south side of the plaza adds capacity to prevent bottlenecks.
Strategic Coordination at an Extraordinarily Congested Intersection
The intersection of Kings Highway and Barnes at the hospital plaza presents an extraordinarily congested space where normal construction logistics would create immediate gridlock. This is the site of the BJC Healthcare Campus Renewal Phase 3 project, where McCarthy Building Company is replacing the Queenie Tower—a 16-story replacement at a zero lot line configuration in the heart of St. Louis's dense medical district.
Joe Lewandowski's team approached the problem by fundamentally rethinking how trucks enter and leave the site. Rather than allowing vehicle traffic to pile up at the intersection, they established staging areas positioned away from the immediate congestion point. When construction materials or equipment are needed, trucks are radioed in on a schedule rather than arriving on demand. This prevents the intersection from becoming a holding pattern for waiting vehicles.
The second part of the strategy targets the underlying traffic flow. McCarthy minimized additional lane closures that the construction itself would impose, and the broader project includes widening the south side of Barnes-Jewish Plaza to add a new traffic lane. This additional capacity allows people and vehicles to travel through the space as smoothly as possible even while major construction is underway.
As Lewandowski explains in the episode, the goal is simple but demanding: keep the hospital fully functional, maintain public access to the plaza and surrounding streets, and execute a complex hospital replacement all at once. For a healthcare construction project of this scale in an urban setting, traffic coordination is not a side logistics issue—it is a core part of project success.
"We not only take pride in building for BJC, who's a national leader among health care organizations, but also feel special to be building a hospital that's so important to the people in and around St. Louis."
Joe Lewandowski — Project Director, Central Region, McCarthy Building Company. Lewandowski has been with McCarthy since 2005 and has dedicated his career to healthcare construction across the country. He led the $1 billion New Orleans VA Medical Center replacement project from 2013 to 2016, which rebuilt critical medical infrastructure damaged by Hurricane Katrina. He is currently directing the construction team on Phase 3 of the BJC Healthcare Campus Renewal Project, with the first patient expected in summer 2025.
One additional dimension often overlooked in congested hospital construction is the role of continuous communication and coordination with city traffic authorities, hospital operations, and local stakeholders. The episode dives deeper into how McCarthy is managing relationships with 100 to 150 trade partners on the job, each of whom needs clear direction on vehicle access and timing.
See also
What is the current workforce size and trajectory for a growing minority-owned construction contractor?
Sled Rock Construction expanded from specialty carpentry to small general contracting and became signatory to both carpenters and laborers unions, scaling its workforce to support growth in the competitive construction market.
What are the most damaging payment term practices in the construction industry?
Sixty, ninety, and 120-day payment terms are standard in construction, which can be particularly harmful to small and minority-owned businesses with limited cash reserves.
How can a small contractor build visibility and overcome the credibility gap in construction?
Writing a strategic plan, joining trade organizations, and attending networking events are key steps to building visibility and establishing credibility in the construction industry.