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 While the newer Commercial Drive station is much closer to the transit village ideals, the outdated and dilapidated Broadway Expo Line station is downright scary.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