Photos: Completion of Vancouver’s Broadway Subway Delayed to 2026

Vancouver’s Broadway Subway has been delayed from late 2025 to early 2026, the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure announced.

The cause for the delay revolves around a five-week strike that began on May 20 that included roughly 160 workers at six Lower Mainland concrete plants operated by Rempel Bros. Concrete.

Of the 160 workers, some are represented by the Teamsters and International Union of Operating Engineers, worked at other concrete plants operated by Ocean Concrete and Allied Ready Mix. Colleagues at those plants also refused to work.

As a result, over 300 employees were off the job and impacted over half of the construction projects in Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley.

The view down the steel gantry structure, which follows behind the tunnel boring machine. Once underground, the large wheels will rest on the completed tunnel section.

View of the future Great Northern Way-Emily Carr station site ahead of the launch of Elsie, the first of two tunnel boring machines on the right. Phyllis, the second tunnel boring machine, is being assembled on the left.

The view inside Elsie, the first of two tunnel boring machines to launch from Great Northern Way-Emily Carr Station. The extremely complex machines arrived in pieces and assembly is highly technical work.

The view down the steel gantry structure, which follows behind the tunnel boring machine. Once underground, the large wheels will rest on the completed tunnel section.

The conveyer belt rises out of the future Great Northern Way-Emily Carr station site towards the muck pit on the other side, where excavated material will be removed.

The conveyer belt, which will carry excavated material from the tunnel boring machine out through the tunnel to a muck pit at the future Great Northern Way-Emily Carr station site.

The control room of Elsie, the first of two tunnel boring machines to launch from the future Great Northern Way-Emily Carr station.

The view down the steel gantry structure passageway, which follows behind the Elsie, the first of two tunnel boring machines.

The first tunnel liner rings are stored on a conveyer behind the tunnel boring machine Elsie, ready to be installed.

Elsie, the first of two tunnel boring machines, rests in the red thrust frame ahead of launch at Great Northern Way-Emily Carr station. The frame works like a starting block, allowing Elsie to begin her journey underground.

A close look at the cutterhead of the first tunnel boring machine prior to launch from the future Great Northern Way-Emily Carr Station for the Broadway Subway Project.

The government states that “a precise update on the project timeline will be provided in the spring of 2023 when station excavation and tunnel boring are further advanced.” Presently the project remains within budget.

The Broadway Subway will extend the Millennium Line from VCC-Clark Station to the future Broadway and Arbutus station. The government maintains that once in service, a trip from VCC-Clark to Arbutus station will take 11 minutes, saving the average commuter 30 minutes a day.

The ministry highlights that the Broadway corridor is home to British Columbia’s second-largest jobs centre.

“It’s estimated the Broadway Subway project will create more than 13,000 direct and indirect jobs during construction, supporting economic development within the region and beyond.”

(Top photo of Elsie, the first of two tunnel boring machines for the Broadway Subway Project via Province of British Columbia/ Flickr).