Transportation Demands: The Broadway Subway Project

INFRASTRUCTURE BC

The Broadway Subway Project is a westward extension to the Millennium Line. Most of the stations for this extension will be located on Broadway to alleviate the growing congestion on buses. The project is a collaboration between the Government of Canada, Government of British Columbia, City of Vancouver, and TransLink. 

According to the City of Vancouver’s website, “Metro Vancouver will welcome 1 million new residents… over the next 30 years”. This is roughly a 40 per cent increase from the current population. In anticipation of the growing number of residents, new infrastructure is being built. The trains on this line will have the capacity for three times as many people as the current demand. The extension will reduce the waiting time for passengers, create reliable schedules, and encourage the use of public transportation. 

The Broadway Subway Project involves building six new train stations to add onto the Millennium Line. Currently, the Millennium Line connects the city of Coquitlam to Vancouver’s Main Street. The new stations will extend this line to Arbutus Street. The six new stations will connect to the rest of the Millenium line through the VCC-Clark station. In the future, this subway line may be extended further west to reach the UBC campus. 

The new subway stations will be built underground. They will be accessible from all over Vancouver by all forms of transportation, including driving, biking, walking, and busing. Since the Arbutus station and the Great Northern Way-Emily Carr station are close to greenways, they will have bike parkades. Crime-prevention measures such as security cameras and emergency phones will be implemented. Many stations will also feature Indigenous artwork. 

This 5.7 km extension from the VCC-Clark station to the Arbutus station will take 11 minutes to travel. During the busiest times of the day, a train will arrive at each station every three to four minutes. According to the Broadway Subway Project website, “the average transit commuter [will save] almost 30 minutes a day.”

However, rapid transit can be costly. This project will cost $2.83 billion, with majority funding coming from the provincial government.

The construction schedule began with planning in November 2020, followed by building the tunnels and stations from 2021 to 2023. Installing the tracks is planned for 2024, and testing will begin after that. The six-station extension to the Millennium Line is on schedule to open in 2025.