Vancouver’s significant transit expansion, the Broadway Subway Project, is entering its final construction phases, putting it on track for a Fall 2027 completion. This 5.7-kilometer extension of the Millennium Line will dramatically transform transit along the busy Broadway corridor, replacing the eastern terminus of the 99 B-Line with a high-capacity SkyTrain connection.
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Key Takeaways:
- Construction is significantly advanced, with station structures and track installation underway.
- The extension will open in Fall 2027, less than 2.5 years from June 2025.
- It will offer three times the capacity of the current bus service, handling up to 7,000 passengers per hour per direction initially.
- The project includes six underground stations, twin tunnels, and an elevated guideway section.
- Recent milestones include completing the tunnel boring phase and the roof structure at South Granville Station.
Progress Update: Stations and Tunnels Taking Shape
The project involves extending the Millennium Line westward from VCC–Clark Station to Arbutus Station. This includes 5 km of twin bored tunnels and 700 metres of elevated guideway near the start of the line. Current work focuses heavily on building the multi-level underground station structures and installing tracks within the completed tunnels.
A recent media tour highlighted the progress at the elevated-to-underground “transition box” near Emily Carr University and provided an in-depth look at the Great Northern Way–Emily Carr Station construction. Station sites along the corridor are now seeing significant structural work, building upwards to the roof level just beneath the ground surface.
Elevated guideway transitioning to underground tunnel construction
Track installation is also advancing across most segments of the extension. This involves laying the standard SkyTrain system tracks, including the two running rails, a side power rail, and an aluminum induction strip necessary for the linear induction motor propulsion system used by the trains. Specialized machinery is employed to pull 400-meter rail segments into the tunnels before they are welded together into continuous lengths.
View inside the bored tunnel showing new track installation
Station Construction Milestones
With the tunnel boring phase completed in April 2024, construction across the six station sites has accelerated. These sites are transforming from excavation pits into complex, multi-level underground structures.
At Great Northern Way–Emily Carr Station, significant progress is visible in the two underground levels, which will house the 80-meter platforms, ventilation systems, and areas for stairs, escalators, and elevators, as well as the concourse. Construction is also underway on the street-level entrance buildings.
Concrete structure forming the concourse level of a future subway station
A notable milestone was reached in late May 2025 with the completion of the final roof section at South Granville Station. A unique tribute was embedded into the concrete pour: a maple leaf and a special edition Loonie coin featuring Elsie MacGill, the world’s first female aeronautical engineer, in whose honor the eastbound tunnel boring machine was named.
Maple leaf and Elsie MacGill Loonie coin embedded in station roof concrete
The station roofs are crucial structural elements that will eventually be backfilled, concealing the stations beneath the surface and roadways. Further down the line at South Granville Station, work is already progressing to installing mechanical equipment for the escalators.
Construction progress on the roof slab of a Broadway Subway station
Project Cost and Timeline Ahead
The provincial government noted in late 2024 that the project’s cost saw a modest increase of 4.5%, or $127 million, bringing the total budget from $2.827 billion to $2.954 billion. This is a relatively contained increase for a project of this scale and complexity. You can read more about the cost update here.
Looking ahead to 2026, key milestones include the removal of temporary traffic decks covering the station sites along Broadway, allowing for surface restoration. Interior fit-out of the stations will begin, and dynamic testing of the SkyTrain system on the new tracks will commence.
B.C. Minister of Transportation and Transit, Mike Farnworth, commented on the project during the recent tour, highlighting the dedication of the workers and the reliability of the SkyTrain technology being implemented.
Impact on Vancouver Transit
Upon its planned opening in Fall 2027, the Broadway Subway will significantly improve transit efficiency and capacity along one of Vancouver’s busiest corridors. The Millennium Line extension is expected to serve over 100,000 daily boardings. This high ridership is anticipated due to the vast reduction in travel times and the seamless connectivity offered by the SkyTrain network, including the crucial interchange with the Canada Line at Broadway-City Hall Station.
Travel times will be substantially faster; for example, a trip from the new Arbutus Station to Broadway-City Hall Station will take approximately six minutes, compared to significantly longer travel times on the current bus service. The extension will also connect directly to other points on the Millennium and Expo Lines, extending easy access across the region.
At the Arbutus terminus, an off-street bus exchange is planned to facilitate the truncated 99 B-Line route serving the University of British Columbia (UBC) campus.
Future Outlook: Towards UBC and Beyond
While the focus is on the 2027 opening to Arbutus, discussions about extending the Millennium Line further west to UBC continue. TransLink’s Mayors’ Council’s 10-year plan includes exploring this extension in the first half of the 2030s.
The provincial government is currently leading the business case development for the UBC SkyTrain extension, a detailed process involving technical design and planning. Geotechnical drilling and soil sampling between Arbutus and UBC were completed in 2024 as part of this planning work. Learn more about the UBC SkyTrain extension planning process.
In other regional transit news, construction is also progressing rapidly on the 16-km Surrey-Langley extension of the Expo Line. This fully elevated extension will add eight new stations and is expected to open in late 2029. Major construction on the Surrey-Langley line began in November 2024. Four large gantry launchers are expected to begin assembling the elevated guideway structures in Summer 2025.
The Broadway Subway Project is a critical component of Vancouver’s transit future, promising faster, more reliable travel and increased capacity for tens of thousands of daily commuters once it opens in Fall 2027. The progress on station structures and track installation signals that the project is moving steadily towards its operational phase.
