Vancouver’s Broadway Subway Project sees major ‘breakthrough’

The Broadway Subway Project saw a “major breakthrough” Monday night, as the first of two-tunnel boring machines (TBMs) broke through a wall of the future Mount Pleasant Station.

Nicknamed Elise after Elizabeth “Elise” MacGill, a notable B.C.-born aircraft designer, the first TBM busted through the wall amidst a group of cheering construction workers.

“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 fast, convenient SkyTrain service along the Broadway corridor. The corridor is home to B.C.’s second-largest jobs centre, world-class health-care services, an emerging innovation and research hub, and growing residential communities,” a news release from B.C. government explained.

The second TBM machine, nicknamed Phyllis, is named after Phyllis Munday who was the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Robson.

Phyllis is expected to arrive at the Mount Pleasant Station in the spring.

The large TBM machines are about six metres in diameter and weigh about one million kilograms. The machines are expected to each take about a year to carve out the subway’s inbound and outbound tunnels for the 5.7 km extension.

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“The project will result in faster travel, better access and fewer cars on the road in this heavily used corridor. Once in service, the trip from VCC-Clark to Arbutus Station will take 11 minutes, saving the average transit commuter almost 30 minutes a day and relieving congestion along Broadway.”

The line is scheduled to open in 2026.

With files from Greg Bowman