The $2.83 billion Broadway Subway Project is starting site preparations in Vancouver. All demolition work is to be completed by end of April, in preparation for the start of station construction.
The Broadway Subway is a 5.7-kilometre extension of the Millennium Line from VCC-Clark Station to Broadway and Arbutus in Vancouver. Six new underground stations will connect communities and neighbourhoods, making it easier and more affordable to live, work, shop and access services along Broadway.
Some building demolition is necessary to construct the six new station entrances and create laydown areas that will be used as work staging and storage. This will minimize disruption on Broadway and adjacent streets.
The first buildings slated for removal are on the 100 block of East Broadway and 2500 block of Main Street for the future Mount Pleasant Station.
The project’s design-build contractor, Broadway Subway Project Corporation, began working on site in fall 2020, with a focus on surveying and removing hazardous materials from buildings. Other preliminary work underway includes relocating utilities and conducting geotechnical investigations. The contractor is also working to finalize designs for the new stations, which will be presented at a public open house in the spring.
Major works will start this spring. Upcoming construction activities will include the tunnel portal and elevated guideway near Great Northern Way, with tunnelling to begin in 2022.
When completed in 2025, the Broadway Subway will provide fast and frequent SkyTrain service to B.C.’s second-largest jobs centre, health-care services, an emerging innovation and research hub, and growing residential communities.
“The Broadway Subway will be transformational – not just for the City of Vancouver, but for the entire region and the province as a whole,” said City of Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart. “As Metro Vancouver’s second-largest employment centre, the Broadway corridor helps generate $14 billion in gross domestic product that will power our economy for decades to come. This project will not only move people, but also ideas, innovation and investment. The Broadway Subway will move us all forward.”
