Broadway Subway - Millennium Line Extension to Arbutus | U/C

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by Nouvellecosse

That's an interesting point about the buses. Broadway is known as one of the busiest bus corridors in NA with a very high frequency of service. Once most transit movements on the street will be underground, it makes sense that this would free up space on the surface for other uses like bike lanes. At least for that multi km stretch. It wouldn't really be taking something away from non-transit vehicles since they didn't have full access to the street to begin with given the volume of buses.

If I could redesign that area I would push all vehicles to Broadway, remove parking, add left turn lanes, and push all bike/wheeled traffic to 10th (with AAA upgrades).

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by aberdeen5698

FWIW, I've found the changes to Nanaimo Street between Hastings and 1st to work pretty well. They reduced the street to one lane in each direction, and doing so gave them the room to put in a two-way left turn lane. That (mostly) continuous left turn lane does a lot to reduce obstructions due to turning cars and keep everyone moving.

They also marked right turn lanes next to the curb. That seems to help with those idiots who are too dumb to pull out of the travel lane while they wait to make their right turn. All in all it seems to keep traffic flowing nicely.

Would a similar scheme work on Broadway? Higher traffic volumes... maybe, maybe not. But I wouldn't dismiss it out of hand.

The traffic volume difference on Nanaimo (particularly that stretch) vs Broadway is night and day, you can't compare them. I don't have much comment on that area of Nanaimo as I hardly use it, but if that road narrowing generated congestion, people would just shift their traffic patterns elsewhere.

[csbvan]

Originally Posted by whatnext

Except most European cities don’t limit traffic into the city centre, they just make vehicles park on the outskirts of it. For example you would drive over the Cambie Street Bridge and be forced to park in an underground lot at BC Place. Ironically very similar to the Project 2000 parking plan that Gordon Price et al freaked out over. The wild card or difference is that Vancouver is much wetter than most European cities. Not exactly conducive to strolling into the city centre Oct-April.

I've lived in Northern Europe, the Netherlands in particular, it's perfectly conducive. It's always the weirdest argument that people make - Vancouver's climate is the reason we shouldn't have public spaces and streets. Yet, the best places for strolling on pedestrianized, or car-lite streets in Europe tend to be the Netherlands and Denmark, which...well, yeah.

[s211]

And on the Broadway Subway-related front, watching the traffic cops go from 0 to 100 on drivers ignoring them has been great fun! If the cop points at your vehicle and directs you out of the bus-only lane, don't go back into the bus-only lane right after passing the cop unless you want hot lava to come your way.

[LeftCoaster]

Originally Posted by mcj

Proving that traffic will adjust to a road diet, and we indeed could have installed active transportation lanes on Broadway so that people don't need to ride on the sidewalk

Well word may have gotten out about Broadway, and traffic has adjusted, but that adjustment has absolutely slammed W 6th. It took me 18 minutes to get from Granville to Cambie yesterday, it normally takes about 3-4.

I'm all for sensibly reducing car lanes where they are in excess, but the E/W capacity in Vancouver is not good at all, and Broadway is very much required. 8th and 10th are much better biking routes regardless. Less traffic and more shade.

[Nouvellecosse]

People often talk about what streets make the best bike routes and choosing those with more shade and less traffic. But that's mainly relevant when it comes to routes that are not themselves major destinations. For a corridor that's a major destination, you need safe active transportation directly on it because a lot of people are trying to get to/from the street itself. It isn't just people passing through going to/from other places. Whereas corridors that are major destinations are less suitable for through traffic in general which includes car traffic.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by Nouvellecosse

People often talk about what streets make the best bike routes and choosing those with more shade and less traffic. But that's mainly relevant when it comes to routes that are not themselves major destinations. For a corridor that's a major destination, you need safe active transportation directly on it because a lot of people are trying to get to/from the street itself. It isn't just people passing through going to/from other places. Whereas corridors that are major destinations are less suitable for through traffic in general which includes car traffic.

I bike and e-scooter all over. I love going to destinations along Main St using Ontario, and I use 10th regularly to get to destinations along Broadway.

When I go downtown there are only those nice tree lined streets for bikes in the West End, so I appreciate the various N-S and E-W dedicated lanes when I need to get around.

What annoys me to no end is the subset of cyclists or advocates for whom the solution is never good enough. The slightest bit of inconvenience and they act like the sky is falling. If you want to see inconvenience, try driving literally anywhere in the City.

[Migrant_Coconut]

Likewise, the buses aren't exactly on every street either. I don't mind walking a block or two... but the idea that every Broadway passenger on the 8 or 14 should be made to walk three blocks to/from 12th so that bikes and scooters don't have to ride ONE seems more than a little unfair.

[Nouvellecosse]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

What annoys me to no end is the subset of cyclists or advocates for whom the solution is never good enough. The slightest bit of inconvenience and they act like the sky is falling. If you want to see inconvenience, try driving literally anywhere in the City.

It isn't really about existing active transportation users being fussy. It's that a major goal for most active transportation projects is to compel more people to use AT which has many benefits as I'm sure you're aware. The less appealing the infrastructure is in terms of many factors which includes convenience, the fewer people it will attract. Arguments for why other people should find it more appealing than they do and that minimize their concerns aren't really relevant unless you have a way of convincing all of them. It's really just a cause/effect mechanism we have to accept.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by Nouvellecosse

It isn't really about existing active transportation users being fussy. It's that a major goal for most active transportation projects is to compel more people to use AT which has many benefits as I'm sure you're aware. The less appealing the infrastructure is in terms of many factors which includes convenience, the fewer people it will attract. Arguments for why other people should find it more appealing than they do and that minimize their concerns aren't really relevant unless you have a way of convincing all of them. It's really just a cause/effect mechanism we have to accept.

I think that is the gist of it and I would argue overzealous advocates have a huge blind spot. I think taking lanes away on a major E-W route like Broadway will antagonize drivers more than it will convince them to get out of their car.

They mostly refuse to acknowledge the calmed streets like Ontario and 10th that we already have. They keep getting spot improvements for bikes and scooters and they are great ways to travel.

[madog222]

Cambie as of yesterday late afternoon. Two rows of traffic deck panels removed from the west side and three rows removed from the east side.

20260723_181833 by madog222, on Flickr

20260723_181548 by madog222, on Flickr

[officedweller]

Prioritizing that No Frills loading bay access!

[s211]

Originally Posted by officedweller

Prioritizing that No Frills loading bay access!

I saw a truck parked in a small slip lane in front of the store, and staff were unloading same and bringing stock through the front door. It was not a full-sized 40 or 53 foot trailer either, but instead a much smaller truck.

Considering the store's general demographic and what continues to be high customer traffic into the store, I'd say that there could be "social" reasons that would press the city to keep loading access to the store available.

[madog222]

I doubt the City had to get involved. The project has made it priority to maintain access to businesses throughout. Forcing the grocery store to close was never really an option, especially when designating a temporary loading zone is a very simple solution.

[Vantage]

There's a temporary loading bay at the front entrance of the store. Two forklifts with propane storage racks nearby. They have poured a concrete letdown from the curb.

Grocery stores get multiple trucks a day and contrary to popular belief don't really have much "in the back", it is typically truck-to-shelf. If they were unable to receive trucks they would have to close.

My photo taken this evening at 20:22.

[Lexus]

• Video Link

YouTube Shorts aren't really my thing. However, they're perfect for quick construction updates like this. A full project update is planned for next week. Enjoy!

[officedweller]

Does anyone know which traffic signal is used for buses turning right across northbound Cambie?
Is it a white vertical bar?

[madog222]

Originally Posted by officedweller

Does anyone know which traffic signal is used for buses turning right across northbound Cambie?
Is it a white vertical bar?

Yes, also for the left turns WB from 8th and EB from Broadway.

[Lexus]

Broadway at Cambie | Broadway SkyTrain Project by Lexus LX 700, on Flickr

[logan5]

So how much contingency have they built into the timeline? Opening by Labour Day 2027? It's been a long haul.