B.C. provides peek into $2.95B SkyTrain tunnels, set to open in 2027
VANCOUVER - In a maze of cement under Vancouver, the latest expansion to the SkyTrain rapid-transit system is taking shape, one stretch of track at a time.
Transportation Minister Mike Farnworth described how track is being hauled into place in 400-metre lengths, as he led a tour of the $2.95-billion Broadway subway project and its two brightly lit centrepiece tunnels on Monday.
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Global News
2 days ago
- Global News
With Broadway subway still 2 years away, businesses say they're getting ‘zero' support
As the British Columbia government touts progress on the Broadway subway extension, some Vancouver businesses in the construction zone question if they can hang on for two more years. The $2.95 billion subway line was originally supposed to be finished in 2025, but is now aiming for a fall 2027 launch. During a tour on Monday, Transportation Minister Mike Farnworth downplayed concerns from businesses on Broadway who say fencing, no-stopping zones and the removal of parking in the area have driven away customers. 2:57 Sneak peak into massive Broadway SkyTrain project 'There has been a very good relationship between the project and businesses along the line, and we're in contact with them literally on a daily basis,' Farnworth said. Story continues below advertisement 'There has been a lot of liaising between the project team and the local businesses to ensure the impact is as minimal as possible.' Not everyone operating businesses on Broadway agrees. Matthew Greenwood, who owns the Up in Smoke cannabis store at Broadway and Alberta Street, says sales have fallen 40 per cent and he's had to slash his staff from 12 to three people since construction work started. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy He said the loss of parking and the installation of large fences on the street in 2021 and 2022 were to blame. 'That's when people decided it was too difficult to find parking in this neighbourhood and so they decided to go elsewhere. And also foot traffic is down hugely,' he said. 3:13 Broadway subway project parking questions Greenwood said he's had to shift his business model — sourcing unique and specialized products and moving to a mail-order business model to keep the doors open. Story continues below advertisement Support from the city and the province has been minimal, he added. 'They could have said you don't have to pay property taxes because it's a special construction zone and we don't have jurisdiction. They could have waived my business licence fee and that of other merchants. They could have given us a grant to launch our e-commerce service because we lost foot traffic. There are so many things they could have done. 'At this point, any effort would have been welcome, but at this time right now there has been zero effort on the hands of the provincial and municipal government other than prayers and thoughts.' Ned Wyles, executive director of the Mount Pleasant Business Improvement Association, said Greenwood is not alone. 'There's 100s of businesses along this line, everyone is different. They've all pivoted, done something different — opened an online store — but at the end of the day, they are all struggling, they are having to pull every trick out of their bag of tricks just to keep the doors open, through no fault of their own,' he said. 4:12 Impact on businesses as Broadway subway extension faces delays Wyles said the only kind of support businesses have been offered has been small things like free window cleaning. But he said the Ministry of Transportation won't budge on a policy of not offering financial compensation for the effects of construction. Story continues below advertisement He said it's particularly frustrating given that Finance Minister Brenda Bailey is the MLA for a portion of the transit line. 'Brenda Bailey, we need some help here,' he said. 'How about giving these guys a tax break? We did it during COVID, the government knows how to do it, I'm not asking you to give them money, I am asking you not to take it away from them.' The province has blamed project delays on a variety of factors, including the COVID-19 pandemic, a five-week concrete strike and unexpected challenges with tunnel boring, but maintains it will hit the current 2027 launch target.
CBC
2 days ago
- CBC
B.C. minister touts benefits of 3B Broadway Subway Project as businesses ask for support
B.C.'s transport minister talked up the benefits of the $2.95 billion Broadway Subway SkyTrain extension at a Monday photo op — but businesses say there's been little support for them as the delayed project looks to hit its 2027 completion date. The Broadway Subway Project aims to extend the Millennium Line by 5.7 kilometres, bringing the SkyTrain west from VCC-Clark station to Arbutus. And while it was initially supposed to cost $2.83 billion and come online this year, two delays have pushed the project to 2027, and the price has shot up to $2.95 billion. Businesses along Broadway who have had to deal with construction for five years say they're hanging by a thread, even as the province continues to say it will help alleviate pressure on Metro Vancouver's transit system. "As with all projects, there's always challenges," Transport Minister Mike Farnworth said. "There's issues that will come up, just because of the nature of the location, and events that do happen." Farnworth says the extension will increase the capacity of the SkyTrain system by 27 per cent, and would carry three times the capacity of the 99 bus line, which has long been the region's busiest route. "The time to get from VCC-Clark down to Arbutus will only be 11 minutes," he said. "So that is going to be a significant improvement, in terms of people's commuting experience, on the transit system." Farnworth acknowledged the problems the project has faced that has led to a two-year delay. The challenges included labour disputes and problems faced by tunnel boring machines along the Broadway corridor. "We're on time to have it open in 2027," he insisted. Businesses ask for support Farnworth said the Broadway Subway Project, which is funded by the province, has been in touch with local businesses on a daily basis over their concerns. But some of them say they've had to close up shop due to ongoing street construction. "I was forced to remortgage my home on two occasions and eventually was forced to sell my condo because of the drop in sales," said Allen Ingram, the owner of Home on the Range Organics. Ingram ended up having to close his Broadway location a month and a half ago and has shifted to primarily selling his products online, in addition to a new production kitchen on the Sunshine Coast. "It's without the woes of any construction, and it's a lovely place to be," he said. "So on a personal level, it feels a lot better to be removed from what we were going through in Vancouver." Neil Wyles, the executive director of the Mount Pleasant Business Improvement Association, says that he was seeing 50 per cent business vacancies along Broadway from Alberta Street to Kingsway — which he largely attributed to the reduction in foot traffic from subway construction. "We've talked to all of the politicians and everyone seems to be very, very, very sympathetic," he said. "But at the end of the day, there's been zero support for these businesses." Wyles said that businesses had been "hanging on by their fingernails" since subway construction started in 2020, and he is pushing for a tax break for stores affected by construction. "There's no guarantee that your store is going to just be flooded with people because of the Broadway line," Wyles said, when asked whether businesses can expect an uptick in foot traffic when the project is online. "I could not, in good conscience, go into one of my businesses and say, 'But it'll be worth it. It'll be totally worth it, man... I don't think that's true." WATCH | Inside the Broadway Subway extension: Inside the Broadway SkyTrain extension — one of many delayed provincial projects 2 hours ago Duration 1:56 It's caused quite the traffic tie-ups, but urban planners and politicians all agree, it'll be worth it in the end. And today, it was time to show off the Broadway subway, the SkyTrain extension that will add six new stops in Vancouver. As CBC's Justin McElroy explains, the project joins a long list of provincial projects that are over budget and delayed.
Vancouver Sun
2 days ago
- Vancouver Sun
Broadway subway hits midway point, later than first anticipated — and at a higher cost
Transportation Minister Mike Farnworth joined journalists Monday to descend several storeys into the cavernous concrete box that will become the Broadway subway line's Emily Carr-Northern Way station to get a glimpse of its progress. 'Here we are at one of the key entrances to the tunnel where they're starting to lay track,' Farnworth said, dwarfed by the six-metre diameter concrete tube around him and the pair of rails that will eventually stretch five kilometres west to Arbutus Street. 'You can see by the size of the tunnel just how big this project is,' Farnworth added. The province also said project's costs have continued to creep higher, to $2.95 billion from the last estimate of $2.83 billion. The project will extend TransLink's Millennium Line from VCC Clark Station to Arbutus Street in the hopes of reducing congestion on Broadway, one of Vancouver's busiest commuter routes. 1 of 20 Full Screen is not supported on this browser version. You may use a different browser or device to view this in full screen. Farnworth said when complete in the fall of 2027, the line will be able to carry three times as many passengers as TransLink's 99 B-Line bus route. Paired with the 16 kilometre extension of the Expo Line from Surrey to Langley, the projects represent a 27 per cent expansion of SkyTrain. Start your day with a roundup of B.C.-focused news and opinion. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Sunrise will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. 'It's going to be a significant improvement in terms of people's ability to commute,' Farnworth said. 'It'll shorten the commute, on average, for commuters coming from farther out, let's say around the New West, Surrey area, by about 30 minutes.' Monday's tour came at a midway point in construction with some 750 workers at various stages of filling in the subway line's six new stations. The line is being built by a consortium of major construction firms, including Spanish infrastructure giant Acciona and the Canadian subsidiary of Italian tunnelling experts Ghella SpA. When work began in 2020, builders hoped to hit a fall 2025 completion date. A concrete-industry strike in 2022 put a delay into the schedule that spiralled to 18 months by a year ago when the province announced it wouldn't be complete until the fall of 2027. The project remains on track for that revised schedule, according to Farnworth, though that isn't much comfort to a businesses hollowed out by subway construction. 'I've stopped counting,' Neil Wyles, executive director of the Mount Pleasant Business Improvement Association, said of the number of businesses that have closed due to reduced access around station locations. 'I think I stopped counting when I hit the 60s.' Farnworth maintained that the project's builders have had 'a very good relationship between the project and businesses along the line. They are in contact with them, literally, on a daily basis.' The provincial government's Transportation Investment Corp. has been ably to apply lessons learned from other projects on how to 'ensure that the impact is as minimum as possible.' Wyles, however, said none of the liaison between the corporation and businesses has involved the topic of short-term compensation for businesses dealt what is now a seven-year stretch of disruptions. 'If you had a kid at the beginning of the project, the kid would be going into Grade 2 by the time it was done,' Wyles said. 'That's not short term.' In Surrey, crews remain in the early work for the Expo Line extension, 'utility work, vegetation management, roadworks, foundation construction,' according to the project's latest update. Surrey commuters, however, are also starting to face the project's first major traffic disruptions with a full closure of Fraser Highway between 140 Street and 96 Avenue, a stretch near the extension's intended start at King George Station and Green Timbers. The province announced last summer that the project's cost estimate had ballooned to almost $6 billion from the near $4 billion when it was launched. At the future Emily Car-Great Northern Way station on the Broadway subway, things are looking closer to complete. During Monday's visit, workers at one end of the four-block long construction site were busy clearing away stacks of scaffolding parts from the top of station's concrete box before it is filled in to make way for a massive development destined to go up overhead. At the other end, where 700 metres of guideway that extends from VCC Clark Station slopes down into the underground entrance, crews are placing the thousands of rail pads that will hold its steel rails to the concrete track bed. Rail is being welded into 400-metre to 700-metre strings that are then being pulled into place by a device called a speed swing, Farnworth said. To date, rail has been pulled from the Great Northern Way station to its Broadway City Hall station. 'It's going to be great when it's done,' said Wyles at the Mount Pleasant Business Improvement Association. In the meantime, however, 'we've seen a number of businesses leave (and) I think that there are a number holding on by their fingernails,' he added. depenner@
