What to do with Broadway Skytrain Station?

If you’ve ridden Metro Vancouver’s Skytrain system then you have no doubt passed through the Broadway-Commercial Skytrain hub. This node along the transport network is at the meeting of the Expo and Millennium Skytrain lines as well as 99 UBC B-line rapid buses that whisk passengers away to the University of British Columbia. What should be the most prominent and well-designed of the network is instead of glaring eye sore. While the newer Commercial Drive station is much closer to the transit village ideals, the outdated and dilapidated Broadway Expo Line station is downright scary. What exists is also a real missed opportunity for density right beside one of the region’s largest transit nodes.

Recently while combing through Translink’s plan to re-design the station, I came across some very promising plans for the creation of a true transit village and added density. The complete re-design of Broadway Station figures very prominently in this plan, most strikingly is the call for a complete replacement of the roof on the aging structure. Added to this are additional density within close proximity to the station and a complete overhaul of the pedestrian space along the back of the station facing 10th Avenue.

While the Translink report was published in 2006 and the renovation of the stations was included in the Provincial Government’s Transport Plan, it seems that the renovation itself is on the back burner. Recent transit fights regarding priorities such as the Broadway-UBC Skytrain line and expansion of rapid transit for Surrey and the south fraser area have clearly overshadowed most other plans. Only time will tell if it takes another 6 years for the construction of this badly needed transit improvement to take place.

View the full Translink report on the station HERE

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Marine Gateway updated project design

The Marine Gateway project situated at Marine Dr and Cambie St has now been redesigned and scaled down. The plan now calls for the tallest of the residential buildings to be 335 feet with the other tower running at 255. According to the developer, Marine Gateway will add over 6000 trips a day to transit within the area. Considering the Canada Line is currently running at about a third of capacity, they figure that transit should be more than able to absorb this increase.

The design is very much a transit village type idea, reminiscent of the Commercial Drive Skytrain Station and also of the new development that has gone in at New Westminster Station. The overall goal of the project is to decrease the amount of new car trips made, as such this development has 25% less parking spaces within it than other typical Vancouver developments. Another interesting note is that their own studies have found that since the Canada Line has opened, traffic along both Cambie St and Marine Dr are down 9-20%.

I know there is considerable public opposition to this project and as such in the past year the developer has scaled down the scope of it. I saw some people on the news who had just bought houses in the neighborhood within the past couple of years and had sunk heavy money into renovations. To me anyone who buys property beside the new SkyTrain and then complains right after about development should have their head checked. This is exactly the kind of development the City of Vancouver desperately needs. I hope and pray that cooler heads will prevail and that both the developer and residents of the area can reach some sort of compromise.