Broadway subway construction will come with disruptions, plans suggest
Credit to Author: Matt Robinson| Date: Thu, 31 Oct 2019 00:40:19 +0000
Vancouver’s Broadway subway project is expected to vastly speed up east-west travel through one of the city’s busiest corridors, but it is likely to slow traffic around major intersections, disrupt parking along Broadway and shift some bus routes during the multi-year construction period, the latest plans show.
Lisa Gow, an executive project director with the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure, was among those who met with residents Wednesday during the first of several province-led information sessions on the project.
“It’s quite exciting. It’s good to be out in the public and talking to folks and hearing their interest,” Gow said when reached by phone during the open house. She said those she had spoken to were keen for the subway to arrive as soon as possible, but also to hear about the expected impacts the construction would have.
The Broadway subway project will extend the Millennium Line by 5.7-kilometres and is budgeted to cost $2.8 billion. It will run beneath Broadway and have underground stations at Great Northern Way, Main, Cambie, Oak and Granville streets, and at the end at Arbutus Street.
Construction on each station is slated to take about two years, according to the province. The excavation will be covered, allowing traffic to continue to move through the area, but there will be only two lanes of traffic in each direction at most station construction areas, and Broadway at Main is likely to see a combined total of three lanes, Gow said.
Bus routes 9 and 99 will continue to run down Broadway, but routes 14, 16 and 17 will be rerouted. About 100,000 people who travel through the corridor each day do so by bus, and another 30,000 do so by car, Gow said. To help keep those transit users moving, one lane in each direction will be devoted to bus travel where possible, according to the plans.
“We’re trying to provide a priority for buses,” she explained.
Pedestrian access will be maintained, but parking on Broadway will be restricted 24/7 through the construction period, according to the province. The province and city staff are still working on a traffic management plan, but the project team cited a previous study that found there was adequate parking in lots off Broadway and on adjacent streets to accommodate displaced vehicles.
Some sections of the Arbutus and Central Valley greenways will be rerouted, according to the province.
Utility and trolley wire relocation and geotechnical investigation related to the project started earlier this year, but major construction isn’t slated to start for about another year, Gow said. The subway is not expected to open until 2025.
The route from VCC-Clark Station to Arbutus Station is expected to take 11 minutes, according to the province. That could shave up to 30 minutes off average commutes through the area.
Future sessions are set for Nov. 2 (511 West Broadway at 11 a.m.) and Nov. 7 (Emily Carr University at 4 p.m.). Pop-ups are also being hosted on Nov. 4 (at Broadway and Main at 4 p.m.), Nov. 5 (Broadway and Granville at 4 p.m.) and Nov. 6 (East Mall and University Boulevard at noon and Commercial/Broadway Station at 4 p.m.)