As of today, the four-month-long full closure of a one-block section of the Broadway arterial between Quebec Street and Main Street is underway, marking the start of the next major construction phase of the project to complete SkyTrain’s Millennium Line Broadway extension.
On the first day of the closure, numerous traffic control personnel were deployed at key intersections and junctions throughout the area to facilitate the transition to the new temporary traffic pattern. Under this configuration, general vehicle traffic is being detoured north via a one-block segment of East 8th Avenue.
Concrete barriers have been installed along Quebec Street between East Broadway and East 8th Avenue to delineate a single travel lane in each direction for the detour route between East Broadway and Main Street.
Given the small and narrow geometry of the intersection at East Broadway and Quebec Street, major measures were required to accommodate the turning radii of larger vehicles and TransLink buses, including the articulated buses used on the 99 B-Line. To address this, a temporary diagonal roadway has been constructed across the surface parking lot of the private property of 77 East Broadway — formerly a used car dealership — at the northwest corner of this intersection. Concrete barriers have been placed to define and guide this temporary alignment.
Traffic impacts and detour routes for the four-month full closure of Broadway between Main and Quebec streets to enable the removal of the temporary traffic deck above the Mount Pleasant Station construction site. (Government of B.C.)
First day of the Broadway full closure between Main and Quebec streets on Jan. 26, 2026. (Kenneth Chan)
East 8th Avenue detour via Quebec Street; first day of the Broadway full closure between Main and Quebec streets on Jan. 26, 2026. (Kenneth Chan)
East 8th Avenue detour via Quebec Street; first day of the Broadway full closure between Main and Quebec streets on Jan. 26, 2026. (Kenneth Chan)
As of Monday morning, construction crews were still finishing work on several temporary traffic elements, including the installation of temporary traffic signals at the intersections of East 8th Avenue with Main Street and Quebec Street.
Just east of the intersection of East Broadway and Kingsway, traffic control personnel were redirecting westbound general vehicle traffic northbound onto Kingsway. From this point, as of this morning, only buses are currently permitted to proceed west through this intersection toward Main Street to access the westbound detour along East 8th Avenue.
There are no vehicle restrictions on the eastbound detour at this time, with eastbound backups on East 8th Avenue observed at times; however, traffic volumes along Broadway east of Cambie Street were observed to be significantly lower than usual. Many drivers appear to be heeding the widely publicized traffic advisories and new traffic signage, avoiding the area altogether and instead using alternate east-west arterial routes such as 12th Avenue and 2nd Avenue.
Concrete barriers installed along Quebec Street between Broadway and East 8th Avenue to define and guide the temporary roadway for the detour on East 8th Ave.
This diagonal roadway is built on the parking lot of a private property. #vanpoli #vanre 2/4https://t.co/7i01q4EJtc pic.twitter.com/IcjnL3ZB4K
— Kenneth Chan (@iamkennethchan) January 26, 2026
Eastbound buses queuing on East 8th Avenue for the East Broadway detour via Main Street.
Crews are finishing a temporary traffic signal at this intersection. #TransLink #vanre #vanpoli 3/4https://t.co/7i01q4EJtc pic.twitter.com/nF4GCFmRiP
— Kenneth Chan (@iamkennethchan) January 26, 2026
An eastbound 99 B-Line bus turning from Quebec Street onto East 8th Avenue for the East Broadway detour route via Main Street. #TransLink #vanpoli #vanre 4/4https://t.co/7i01q4EJtc pic.twitter.com/7j8jqY8UCn
— Kenneth Chan (@iamkennethchan) January 26, 2026
East 8th Avenue detour via Quebec Street; first day of the Broadway full closure between Main and Quebec streets on Jan. 26, 2026. (Kenneth Chan)
East 8th Avenue detour via Quebec Street; first day of the Broadway full closure between Main and Quebec streets on Jan. 26, 2026. (Kenneth Chan)
East 8th Avenue detour via Quebec Street; first day of the Broadway full closure between Main and Quebec streets on Jan. 26, 2026. (Kenneth Chan)
East 8th Avenue detour; first day of the Broadway full closure between Main and Quebec streets on Jan. 26, 2026. (Kenneth Chan)
Local businesses in the immediate area, along with the business improvement association that represents them, have long dreaded this prolonged and highly disruptive full traffic closure. Concerns date back to October 2025, when the provincial government first announced the closure as a necessary measure to safely and more efficiently remove East Broadway’s temporary four-lane traffic deck between Main Street and Quebec Street. The deck, completed in April 2022 after more than half a year of major disruptions, allowed arterial traffic to continue flowing through the area during the construction of Mount Pleasant Station beneath the roadway.
After four months, roughly late Spring 2026, vehicle traffic will return to this block of East Broadway, with one vehicle lane in each direction while work on rebuilding the remaining two lanes continues.
But according to Neil Wyles, the executive director of Mount Pleasant Business Improvement Area (MPBIA), this prolonged closure could be the last straw, the death knell, for many businesses in the area who have already been hanging by a thread ever since major construction work on the subway project first began in 2021.
East 8th Avenue detour via Main Street; first day of the Broadway full closure between Main and Quebec streets on Jan. 26, 2026. (Kenneth Chan)
East 8th Avenue detour; first day of the Broadway full closure between Main and Quebec streets on Jan. 26, 2026. (Kenneth Chan)
East 8th Avenue detour via Main Street; first day of the Broadway full closure between Main and Quebec streets on Jan. 26, 2026. (Kenneth Chan)
First day of the Broadway full closure between Main and Quebec streets on Jan. 26, 2026. (Kenneth Chan)
First day of the Broadway full closure between Main and Quebec streets on Jan. 26, 2026. (Kenneth Chan)
“For owners along the corridor, this is not an abstract construction milestone. It is the beginning of another prolonged period of lost revenue, reduced access, and deep uncertainty for businesses that are already stretched to their limits. Many are entering this shutdown having exhausted their savings, taken on second jobs, or made deeply personal sacrifices simply to keep their doors open,” said Wyles in a statement on Friday just ahead of the closure.
“If the provincial government truly has the backs of small businesses, this is the moment to prove it — with concrete action, including a meaningful, time-limited mitigation funding plan that helps viable businesses survive this extraordinary period.”
Wyles also shared that his organization and a small delegation of impacted business owners will be meeting with Mike Farnworth, the B.C. Minister of Transportation and Transit, on Tuesday morning.
To help mitigate the impacts, MPBIA has been urging the provincial government to quickly provide businesses with emergency financial relief, and the municipal government to relax curbside vehicle parking restrictions in the general area.
The provincial government has yet to indicate how the remaining four spans of temporary East Broadway vehicle traffic decks — above the subway station construction sites of Broadway-City Hall (between Cambie and Alberta streets), VGH-Oak (between Oak and Laurel streets), South Granville (between Granville and Hemlock streets), and Arbutus (between Arbutus and Cypress streets) — will be removed. So far, it has not ruled out a similar prolonged full road closure for these remaining locations.
Such closures enable not only the removal of the temporary traffic decks, but also the remaining backfill work, the construction of new underground utilities, and the restoration of the new permanent roadway and street design.
The Millennium Line’s Broadway extension reaching Arbutus is scheduled to reach completion and open in Fall 2027.
East 8th Avenue detour via Quebec Street; first day of the Broadway full closure between Main and Quebec streets on Jan. 26, 2026. (Kenneth Chan)
Construction progress on Mount Pleasant Station, as of Jan. 26, 2026. (Kenneth Chan)