B.C. minister touts benefits of $3B Broadway Subway Project as businesses ask for support

B.C.'s transport minister talked up the benefits of the $2.95 billion Broadway Subway SkyTrain extension at a Monday photo op — but businesses say there's been little support for them as the delayed project looks to hit its 2027 completion date.

The Broadway Subway Project aims to extend the Millennium Line by 5.7 kilometres, bringing the SkyTrain west from VCC-Clark station to Arbutus.

And while it was initially supposed to cost $2.83 billion and come online this year, two delays have pushed the project to 2027, and the price has shot up to $2.95 billion.

Businesses along Broadway who have had to deal with construction for five years say they're hanging by a thread, even as the province continues to say it will help alleviate pressure on Metro Vancouver's transit system.

"As with all projects, there's always challenges," Transport Minister Mike Farnworth said. "There's issues that will come up, just because of the nature of the location, and events that do happen."

Farnworth says the extension will increase the capacity of the SkyTrain system by 27 per cent, and would carry three times the capacity of the 99 bus line, which has long been the region's busiest route.

"The time to get from VCC-Clark down to Arbutus will only be 11 minutes," he said.

"So that is going to be a significant improvement, in terms of people's commuting experience, on the transit system."

Farnworth acknowledged the problems the project has faced that has led to a two-year delay. The challenges included labour disputes and problems faced by tunnel boring machines along the Broadway corridor.

"We're on time to have it open in 2027," he insisted.

Businesses ask for support

Farnworth said the Broadway Subway Project, which is funded by the province, has been in touch with local businesses on a daily basis over their concerns.

But some of them say they've had to close up shop due to ongoing street construction.

"I was forced to remortgage my home on two occasions and eventually was forced to sell my condo because of the drop in sales," said Allen Ingram, the owner of Home on the Range Organics.

Ingram ended up having to close his Broadway location a month and a half ago and has shifted to primarily selling his products online, in addition to a new production kitchen on the Sunshine Coast.

"It's without the woes of any construction, and it's a lovely place to be," he said. "So on a personal level, it feels a lot better to be removed from what we were going through in Vancouver."

Neil Wyles, the executive director of the Mount Pleasant Business Improvement Association, says that he was seeing 50 per cent business vacancies along Broadway from Alberta Street to Kingsway — which he largely attributed to the reduction in foot traffic from subway construction.

"We've talked to all of the politicians and everyone seems to be very, very, very sympathetic," he said.

"But at the end of the day, there's been zero support for these businesses."

Wyles said that businesses had been "hanging on by their fingernails" since subway construction started in 2020, and he is pushing for a tax break for stores affected by construction.

"There's no guarantee that your store is going to just be flooded with people because of the Broadway line," Wyles said, when asked whether businesses can expect an uptick in foot traffic when the project is online.

"I could not, in good conscience, go into one of my businesses and say, 'But it'll be worth it. It'll be totally worth it, man... I don't think that's true."

WATCH | Inside the Broadway Subway extension: 

Inside the Broadway SkyTrain extension — one of many delayed provincial projects

25 days ago

Duration 1:56

It's caused quite the traffic tie-ups, but urban planners and politicians all agree, it'll be worth it in the end. And today, it was time to show off the Broadway subway, the SkyTrain extension that will add six new stops in Vancouver. As CBC’s Justin McElroy explains, the project joins a long list of provincial projects that are over budget and delayed.