Texas Business reports:  As part of the $9.4 million infrastructure contract to support the construction of the new Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center here, approximately five miles of “duct banks” are being dug beneath the grounds of the existing hospital parking area to distribute 3,500 telephones lines and fiber optic cables, officials said in a prepared statement.

At 947,000 square feet, the new medical center will be 60 percent larger than the current building and will include a six-story hospital tower, three out-patient specialty clinic buildings and three parking garages. It is the largest Department of Defense contract funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, also known as the stimulus package.

The new hospital is expected to be open for patient care in the summer of 2015.

This entire infrastructure project is expected to be complete in early-2012, according to Brian Prediger, chief of Facilities Management for CRDAMC. The project provides connectivity to the garrison information management hub and also to the new stadium under construction near Clear Creek.

Also as part of this project, a new 1,100 square foot telephone switching station facility will be constructed near the new south parking lot of the current hospital.

“Although it will be a multi-year process to get the new hospital completely constructed, it is exciting to see pieces of the project kick off,” Prediger said. “At the end of April, general civil engineering work will begin on the site of the new hospital. There will be many back-hoes and bulldozers visible from the existing hospital as the contractor grades the former stadium site, preparing it for the actual construction of the new facility.  And from that point on, there will increased physical construction activity as the new hospital begins to come to fruition.”

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers projects that approximately 1,000 workers will be on site at the peak of construction, many from local small businesses.