The provincial transportation ministry says one block of Vancouver’s Broadway stretch will be closed to cars for months due to work on the construction of the SkyTrain extension.
In a statement, the ministry says the thoroughfare will be fully closed to vehicles from Main Street to Quebec Street for approximately four months starting in January, with a detour around the block.
Once re-opened, it will then be limited to one lane in each direction for a further four months.
Pedestrian access will remain throughout the work.
The ministry says the closure is for crews to tear down a traffic deck — a temporary bridge — in place since the start of the project where a station is under construction.
Workers will also reinstall utilities, cover the station roof in soil and repave the roadway.
By closing Broadway, the ministry says the work can be done “as quickly as possible. ”
The Broadway Subway extension is set to open in the fall of 2027.
‘A challenge,’ staff concede
Staff from the City of Vancouver and Transportation Investment Corporation, the Crown corporation building the project on the province’s behalf, provided more details to reporters in a technical briefing ahead of the announcement.
One city official acknowledged the closure would be “a challenge,” but argued significant time savings made it worthwhile.
Reporters heard the alternative to the complete closure would have been keeping one lane open in each direction — but this would have meant a 16-month-long impact on vehicle traffic at the intersection, instead of eight.
Construction crews are pictured working on the underground construction of the Broadway Subway Project in Vancouver on June 2, 2025. The extension is set to open in 2027. (Ben Nelms/CBC)
The detour plan, they added, also means most of the noisiest work can be carried out in daytime hours.
A similar approach may be taken to the removal of the four other traffic decks on Broadway, one Transportation Investment Corporation staffer said, but the intention is for a staggered approach to minimize traffic impact.
All traffic decks are set to be removed by 2027, they said.