LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- After years of planning and delays, it is now official: Construction is starting on the new Robley Rex VA Medical Center in Louisville.
The Department of Veterans Affairs broke ground Thursday on the hospital's new location on Brownsboro Road in east Louisville on Veterans Day, appropriately enough. It will replace the aging medical center on Zorn Avenue, off River Road.
The new $840 million hospital will include a Women's Health Clinic, utility plant and parking structures. It will be more than 910,000 square feet in addition to parking structures and 42,205-square-foot central utility plant.
"This will be the newest facility that the VA has built in several years," said Jo-Ann Ginsberg, director of the new medical center. "So everything is going to be the modern health care that meets the needs of all of our veterans."
This project has been 15 years in the making, delayed by wrangling over its location and its funding. Sen. Mitch McConnell and Congressman John Yarmuth helped secure the funding for the new hospital over the course of four presidents.
“This may not be government at its fastest, but it is government at its finest,” Yarmuth said during Thursday's ceremony.
A rendering of the new Louisville VA hospital near the Watterson Expressway and U.S. 42 in eastern Jefferson County.
“This took way longer than we had hoped,” McConnell said. “But rather than dwell on that, we celebrate that we finally are beginning.”
Construction was also delayed by opposition from some nearby resident who fought unsuccessfully in court.
“I know a lot of people in the neighborhood were really upset about it, thought it was going to be too much to put it in this location, too much traffic coming in," said Bob Knabel, who lives in the nearby Crossgate neighborhood. "But it's here now. so we accept it. We move on. We support it."
Blasting will begin at the Brownsboro Road site on Dec. 1 and is expected to continue for five to six months. The detonations will usually occur between between 2-4 p.m. each day.
“They're doing everything possible to mitigate any impact on the community in terms of traffic and noise and also aesthetics,” Yarmuth told WDRB News. “So, I would just say to them: Be patient, and let's see what happens.”
The planned site of the new VA Hospital in Louisville.
What will happen is a 104-bed, full-service hospital to provide for the physical and mental health of local veterans.
“We always put ourselves last to take care of the nation," Navy veteran Arlena Johnson said. "So this whole new facility will be able to reward us."
“This is a fulfillment of their promise to us,” added Stephen Montgomery, who served in both the Army and the Navy. “It's good to see that people still care about us as veterans.”
The hospital is expected to open in 2026.
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