Millennium Line - Broadway Extension: Planning & Pre-Construction

[J.OT13]

Hi everyone. I'm an Ottawa forumer and we're currently having conversations about a fantasy Bank Street subway. Numbers have been thrown around and we figured the Broadway extension could be a good starting point for that.

The contract award for Broadway extension was $1.728 Billion, but the budget is $2.83 Billion. Before the contract went out to tender, how much did the Province/Translink estimate the contract would be? And where will the other odd $Billon be invested? I assume the award contract does not include rolling stock and I know it doesn't include an OMSF, but I was hoping your group could provide more info.

Thank you!

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by chowhou

I thought we'd known for a while that stations will have centre platforms (Or at least Broadway-City Hall would). It's ultimately a continuation of the Millenium Line so you'd expect things to generally be similar to what's existing.

Yeah, but this is construction info from the contractor, not reference material from the Province.
So it's just confirmation of consistency with the reference "artist concept" drawings / scheme.
The contractor is responsible for design, so there could be changes over what the Province has issued for publicity.

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

Hi everyone. I'm an Ottawa forumer and we're currently having conversations about a fantasy Bank Street subway. Numbers have been thrown around and we figured the Broadway extension could be a good starting point for that.

The contract award for Broadway extension was $1.728 Billion, but the budget is $2.83 Billion. Before the contract went out to tender, how much did the Province/Translink estimate the contract would be? And where will the other odd $Billon be invested? I assume the award contract does not include rolling stock and I know it doesn't include an OMSF, but I was hoping your group could provide more info.

Thank you!

My guess is the items excluded from the design-build contract would be:
- Provincial costs of the operating Broadway Subway office
- land acquisition
- vehicles
- contingency fund

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by officedweller

My guess is the items excluded from the design-build contract would be:
- Provincial costs of the operating Broadway Subway office
- land acquisition
- vehicles
- contingency fund

Sounds about right. Thanks!

[goodcitywhenfinished]

Who is the design architect for the stations? I read IBI group somewhere is that still the case?

[Changing City]

Originally Posted by goodcitywhenfinished

Who is the design architect for the stations? I read IBI group somewhere is that still the case?

IBI Group is part of the team. So is Dialog Architecture.

[dleung]

Originally Posted by chowhou

I thought we'd known for a while that stations will have centre platforms (Or at least Broadway-City Hall would). It's ultimately a continuation of the Millenium Line so you'd expect things to generally be similar to what's existing.



-Translink via Daily Hive

Wish they shifted the platform west so that it's not so off-center in terms of loading. Amazing that this will likely be the 2nd or 3rd busiest station in the system, but still has only 1 entrance

[chowhou]

Originally Posted by dleung

Wish they shifted the platform west so that it's not so off-center in terms of loading. Amazing that this will likely be the 2nd or 3rd busiest station in the system, but still has only 1 entrance

The difference between this station and Waterfront or Commercial is every direction will be served by skytrain, so there is no need for a street level transfer unless your destination is at Cambie and Broadway. At Commercial-Broadway, heading up Commercial and (currently) heading down Broadway both require surface transfers. At Waterfront the east-west and really most destinations downtown require a bus. At Cambie, once the 99 is gone, the only buses left are the 15 which is more of a local inter-station bus and the 17, which north of BW-CH matches the 15 and can be met at Oak-VGH.

Most people just won't be leaving the station at ground level.

[BCPhil]

Originally Posted by dleung

Wish they shifted the platform west so that it's not so off-center in terms of loading. Amazing that this will likely be the 2nd or 3rd busiest station in the system, but still has only 1 entrance

Digging straight down is much easier and done all the time (for parkades under towers).

If you shifted the platforms to the west a bit, then part of the station would be under the Canada Line tunnel. And the geology in the area probably isn't the best for using mine like tunneling techniques on that scale under a key piece of infrastructure. And being build as cut and cover probably only adds to the weight of the Canada line on the soil and disturbing it with a giant cavern underneath is probably not a good idea. Best case it would only add years and millions to the project, worst case destroy the Canada line.

Just ask how that technique is doing in Toronto or Ottawa...

The Ellington LRT is supposed to open in 2022, but I wouldn't be surprised at all if the Broadway subway still opens before they are done digging the Ellington West station.

Originally Posted by chowhou

The difference between this station and Waterfront or Commercial is every direction will be served by skytrain, so there is no need for a street level transfer unless your destination is at Cambie and Broadway. At Commercial-Broadway, heading up Commercial and (currently) heading down Broadway both require surface transfers. At Waterfront the east-west and really most destinations downtown require a bus. At Cambie, once the 99 is gone, the only buses left are the 15 which is more of a local inter-station bus and the 17, which north of BW-CH matches the 15 and can be met at Oak-VGH.

Most people just won't be leaving the station at ground level.

Yeah, the corridors between the lines will be much busier than the station entrance. But that said it looks like they may widen the entrance. They'll have to at least do some major reconstruction to widen the area past the fare gates for those new elevators.

Just picture how busy Commercial is if you take away the 99 and all those passengers are coming up from the M line.

In fact I think they realize this because there appears to be extra escalators between the Canada Line level and the Broadway Project Concourse

[goodcitywhenfinished]

Originally Posted by Changing City

IBI Group is part of the team. So is Dialog Architecture.

IBI Did a pretty good job with the underground stations in Ottawa, glad to see them working here.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by goodcitywhenfinished

IBI Did a pretty good job with the underground stations in Ottawa, glad to see them working here.

Looking forward to seeing some renderings.

[officedweller]

There are probably emergency exits not shown (ie the one at 10th is not shown)

[Migrant_Coconut]

Originally Posted by dleung

Wish they shifted the platform west so that it's not so off-center in terms of loading. Amazing that this will likely be the 2nd or 3rd busiest station in the system, but still has only 1 entrance

Repost:

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

No chance of a second entrance in 2025, which —, but there's plans for K.O. panels toward City Hall and the opposite corner (the A&W) that can become entrances if the need arises. It helps that much of the current in/out traffic is B-Line riders.

[teriyaki]

I think the eastern side walkways/stairs/escalators will be disproportionately used way more often than the west side ones.

The east side walkways will appeal more to the people embarking at Broadway City Hall as its the most direct route to the platform from street level.
The east side will likely see more transfer from Canada Line as well as that is the the inbound trains from Richmond and YVR Airport will offload their transfer passengers.

I think if we measure Canada Line to Millenium Line transfers, we're going to see the numbers stacked towards transfers coming from the south (Richmond/YVR direction).

[scryer]

Originally Posted by teriyaki

I think if we measure Canada Line to Millenium Line transfers, we're going to see the numbers stacked towards transfers coming from the south (Richmond/YVR direction).

I'm not sure if I agree with this speculation only because the stations north of Broadway-City Hall carry high volumes.

[Sheba]

Originally Posted by scryer

I'm not sure if I agree with this speculation only because the stations north of Broadway-City Hall carry high volumes.

I'd suspect a bunch of the transfers will be from people on the Expo and Millennium lines who travelled to downtown Van to transfer to the Canada Line and now won't have to. It could take some of the strain off the downtown stations.

[Tvisforme]

It will be interesting to see if this afternoon's Throne Speech mention of increased infrastructure spending will translate into an earlier start to the UBC and Langley extensions. We've heard the promises about infrastructure before, of course, but now - with the added push to create jobs and spend on green projects - I wonder if it will tip things in favour of those lines.

[scryer]

Originally Posted by Sheba

I'd suspect a bunch of the transfers will be from people on the Expo and Millennium lines who travelled to downtown Van to transfer to the Canada Line and now won't have to. It could take some of the strain off the downtown stations.

Touché.

I am incredibly thankful that we are getting the Millennium extension to begin with and I must admit that it is truly fun (and fascinating) trying to predict future transit patterns.

[jollyburger]

Originally Posted by Tvisforme

It will be interesting to see if this afternoon's Throne Speech mention of increased infrastructure spending will translate into an earlier start to the UBC and Langley extensions. We've heard the promises about infrastructure before, of course, but now - with the added push to create jobs and spend on green projects - I wonder if it will tip things in favour of those lines.

Seems doubtful since they would need local/provincial money and they aren't exactly that safe at being able to pass that Throne Speech.

[Jimbo604]

broadwaysubway.ca current construction work page lists most recent work as:

"September 18, 2020 – Trolley Wire Relocation Project
Weekend work will occur Sep 19-20 to remove overhead trolley wires at the intersection of Broadway/Oak"

They've done a bunch of these as well as advance utility relocation projects. Waiting for the first construction that isn't one of these two!

The main broadwaysubway.ca page says "Construction will begin in fall 2020, with the line in service in 2025."

Fall 2020 began a few days ago and goes until Dec 21st so it could be almost three months and still technically start in fall 2020. Hopefully sooner!