Positive start to Vancouver subway extension

The US$2.29 billion project, funded and delivered by the Government of British Columbia, was awarded in May 2020 as a design-build contract to the Broadway Street Project Corporation – a JV comprising Acciona (60%) and Ghella (40%).

It will include twin tunnels located around 15m-20m below ground to be bored by two identical 6.3m-diameter EPB TBMs, each having three drivers. The machines are expected to advance around 18m/day. Six new underground stations are to be built at Great Northern Way, Mount Pleasant, Broadway-City Hall, Oak VGH, South Granville and Arbutus. There will also be a 700m elevated guideway from VCC Clark Station to the tunnel portal near Great Northern Way.

At Mount Pleasant Station, a four-lane traffic deck will be built above the excavation work to ensure traffic can continue to flow safely throughout the construction activities.

Current ongoing work includes building demolitions, geophysical surveys and geotechnical investigations, sewer CCTV surveys and utility relocations, and the plotting of building foundations. Construction of stations and tunnel portals is expected to begin in late 2021; tunnelling scheduled for a 2022 start; and TBMs arriving at their final destination (Cypress Street) in summer 2023.

The Broadway Subway is the fifth extension of Vancouver’s subway system and has been conceived to connect communities and neighbourhoods, enhancing employment, quality of life and general affordability. The journey from one end of the line to the other will take 11 minutes, saving the average commuter 30 minutes a day, relieving congestion in the Broadway area and greatly reducing vehicle emissions. It will connect to the current Sky Train network, including the Expo and Canada lines. The line is currently on schedule to open in 2025.