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

[jollyburger]

RE: the vertical alignment

During this phase of the Project, the options for the vertical alignment are in the process of being assessed, including review of below grade, elevated and mixed alternatives. This is similar to the process undertaken for the Broadway Subway Project, which determined an above grade option was not functionally feasible primarily due to the narrow width of the corridor and established developments within close proximity to the alignment which were not designed to be adjacent to SkyTrain. The corridor west of Arbutus is generally narrower than the Broadway Subway section of Broadway, where an above-grade alignment was determine to not be feasible.

Sounds like they want it all underground?

[madog222]

Traffic is over the deck at Cambie now.

[Nicholas Hui]

The traffic deck at the northern section at Broadway City Hall Skytrain station was completed and opened during midnight. The southern traffic deck construction will take two months to build and complete.

[jollyburger]

New photos of the GNW pit

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cb07wtPPlsa/

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by jollyburger

New photos of the GNW pit

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cb07wtPPlsa/

Looking like a station already!

[jollyburger]

Photos from under the traffic decking at Main

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cb72RYCrQIb/

[jollyburger]

From February

Elevated Guideway
• Continuing caisson installation for guideway columns and bents.
• Modify QLT parking lot to construct guideway foundations and columns within the
footprint of the parking lot.
• Utility relocations continuing.
Great Northern Way – Emily Carr:
• Excavation and piling for Tunnel Boring Machine laydown area and station construction
at Great Northern Way.
• Station structure construction including rebar installation and concrete slab pours.
Mt. Pleasant:
• Headhouse excavation.
• Bulk excavation.
Broadway - City Hall:
• Shallow excavation north side.
• Continue piling program on south side of Broadway.
• Shallow excavation south side, girder, and traffic decking install.
• Bulk excavation.
Oak – VGH:
• Continued shallow excavation north side.
• Girder and traffic decking install.
• Continue piling program on south side of Broadway.
• Shallow excavation south side, girder, and traffic decking install.
• Bulk excavation.
Granville:
• Continue shallow excavation on north side.
• Girder, and traffic decking install.
• Continue piling program on south side.
• Shallow excavation on south side, girder, and traffic decking install.
• Bulk Excavation.
Arbutus:
• Continue shallow excavation on south side.
• Commence piling program on north side.
• Shallow excavation north side, girder, and traffic decking install.
• Bulk excavation.

https://www.broadwaysubway.ca/app/upload...-Monthly-Status-Report-February-2022.pdf

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by jollyburger

Photos from under the traffic decking at Main

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cb72RYCrQIb/

Sweet!

[madog222]

Traffic deck at Main is now up to four lanes.

[dpogue]

They were installing a dewatering system beside Emily Carr today, and it looks like the prep work for guideway columns has moved further west. Sadly no actual columns sticking out of the ground yet.

All photos taken by me, today (April 20, 2022).


Dewatering machinery.


The elaborate mechanism to get the pipes across the road. The food trucks will not be pleased


The roadway behind Emily Carr, or what's left of it.

[jollyburger]

The crane is going up at Emily Carr

[giallo]

I noticed a lot of equipment on the future Lululemon site yesterday, but it looked to be Millennium Line-related.

[jollyburger]

BIG NEWS

This is probably what giallo saw at that yard.

The first shipment of parts for the tunnel-boring machines that will dig the Broadway subway project tunnels has arrived in British Columbia.

The tunnel-boring machine components left Germany on Feb. 25, 2022, and sailed through the Panama Canal before arriving at Fraser Surrey Docks on April 15, 2022. The second and final shipment of equipment is expected to follow in the coming weeks. The pieces are being transported to a staging area in Vancouver where they will be assembled in preparation for the machines' launch this summer.

The two six-metre-wide machines, to be named later this spring, will be launched separately from the Great Northern Way-Emily Carr Station and will bore new tunnels to Cypress Street near the line’s terminus at Arbutus Station. The tunnels will connect all six new stations along the new line.

An official ceremony is planned for the start of tunnelling, which will take about one year to complete. Manufactured by Herrenknecht, the tunnel-boring machines are custom-built to unique specifications for the type of construction as well as the underground conditions from Great Northern Way to Arbutus. The 5.7-kilometre extension to the Millennium Line is due to open in 2025.

Learn more:

More information on the Broadway Subway Project is available online at: www.broadwaysubway.ca

A backgrounder follows.

Backgrounders
Tunnel-boring machine facts
Each tunnel-boring machine (TBM) is six metres wide, 150 metres long (about the length of a football field), and weighs nearly one million kilograms (or approximately 333 elephants).
The TBMs will each have a staff of eight to 12 controlling them and monitoring the operation’s vital signs.
The TBMs will bore approximately 18 metres of new tunnel per day.
The excavation of both tunnels will generate approximately 200,000 cubic metres of soil that will be removed through a conveyor system.
The tunnels will be approximately 15 metres below ground, down to a maximum of 20 metres at Broadway-City Hall Station.
Once the machines arrive at Cypress Street, they will be disassembled and removed through an excavation shaft.

https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2022TRAN0037-000643

[Sheba]

The two six-metre-wide machines, to be named later this spring, will be launched separately from the Great Northern Way-Emily Carr Station and will bore new tunnels to Cypress Street near the line’s terminus at Arbutus Station.

I find that confusing as Cypress Street is two blocks *before* Arbutus. You'd think they would tunnel past Arbutus to make it easier when they continue the tunnel to UBC.

[jollyburger]

Originally Posted by Sheba

I find that confusing as Cypress Street is two blocks *before* Arbutus. You'd think they would tunnel past Arbutus to make it easier when they continue the tunnel to UBC.

Well they could just extend the station excavation for any future tunnel connection. You assume they would start digging from UBC (if it's all tunneled) back to Arbutus.

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by Sheba

I find that confusing as Cypress Street is two blocks *before* Arbutus. You'd think they would tunnel past Arbutus to make it easier when they continue the tunnel to UBC.

The traffic deck will extend to Cypress, so excavating before the TBM arrives allows them to build the station sooner.
But you are right in that it'll be complicated to restart the tunnel for the UBC extension since it doesn't allow them to "bury" the TBMs for future restart (but the TBMs could just be rented anyways).
I wonder if there will be any tail tracks west of Arbutus Station - doesn't look like it.


https://www.broadwaysubway.ca/app/upload...formation-Session-Arbutus-April-2021.pdf

[Nicholas Hui]

Originally Posted by jollyburger

Well they could just extend the station excavation for any future tunnel connection. You assume they would start digging from UBC (if it's all tunneled) back to Arbutus.

If they extend the Skytrain Line from Arbutus Station all the way to UBC, they probably do the boring tunnel from Arbutus all the way to UBC just like how they start the boring tunnel from Great Northern Way–Emily Carr station to Arbutus Station.

[officedweller]

They could probably start with a TBM staging area on the UBC Golf Course and bore eastwards.
I think it may be easier to dissassemble a TBM in a tight space than assemble it.
(ie they disassembled the Canada Line one on Granville St. north of Hastings)

[madog222]

Launching TMBs from the Jericho Lands has been mentioned multiple times though obviously that means they would need to bore four tunnels. Launching from a station location makes sense as one less giant hole needs to be dug out.

[Migrant_Coconut]

Originally Posted by Nicholas Hui

If they extend the Skytrain Line from Arbutus Station all the way to UBC, they probably do the boring tunnel from Arbutus all the way to UBC just like how they start the boring tunnel from Great Northern Way–Emily Carr station to Arbutus Station.

With what staging area? If there's no extra room to put the TBM, boring from Arbutus would mean closing the station for a year. Jericho sounds more likely.