Breakthrough for Vancouver’s Broadway Subway Project

The first of two tunnel-boring machines (TBMs) that began excavating for the Broadway Subway Project in Vancouver last fall broke through to the future Mount Pleasant Station.

On the evening of Jan. 23, the custom-built 150-metre-long machine, named Elsie after BC-born aircraft designer Elizabeth ‘Elsie’ MacGill, bored a six-metre-wide hole in the station’s east wall.

The Broadway Subway Project will extend the Millennium Line 5.7 kilometres from VCC-Clark Station to West Broadway and Arbutus Street, providing people with a fast, convenient SkyTrain service along the Broadway corridor.

Once in service, the trip from VCC-Clark to Arbutus Station will take 11 minutes, which will save the average commuter nearly 30 minutes a day and relieve congestion along Broadway.

This project is expected to result in faster travel, better access and fewer cars on the road in the heavily used corridor, which is home to world-class health-care services, an emerging innovation and research hub, BC’s second-largest job centre and growing residential communities.

The second TBM, named Phyllis after BC naturalist and mountain climber Phyllis Munday, began excavating on Nov. 29, 2022, and is expected to arrive at Mount Pleasant Station this spring.

Each machine will take approximately one year to journey from Great Northern Way-Emily Carr Station to Cypress Street near the future Arbutus Station.

Regarding the other parts of the project, the 21 columns for the guideway between VCC-Clark Station and the future Great Northern Way-Emily Carr Station are nearing completion, and installation of girders for the track will begin this spring.

Excavation and construction of the station foundations continue at the Broadway-City Hall, Oak-VGH, South Granville and Arbutus station sites in preparation for TBM arrivals.

The Broadway Subway Project will also support new transit-oriented developments to create efficient, livable communities and maximize the opportunities provided by the government’s investment in public transit.

An estimated 13,000 direct and indirect jobs will be created during construction.

The new line is expected to open in 2026.