NDP calls for bids to build, finance $2.83-billion Broadway subway
The B.C. government opened the bidding process for construction of the $2.83-billion Broadway subway project Friday, with an invitation for companies to submit their qualifications to design, build and finance the line under an NDP-mandated community benefits agreement.
In a news release, the Ministry of Transportation said bids will be accepted until April, when up to three respondent teams will be selected to participate in the request for proposal stage. The Transportation Investment Corporation (TI Corp) will deliver the project on behalf of the province, “similar to its role on the Port Mann Bridge project.”
Postmedia asked to speak to Transportation Minister Claire Trevena about the community benefits agreement, but she was unavailable.
The community benefits agreement for the $1.4-billion Pattullo Bridge replacement project is expected to increase bridge costs by about seven per cent, or almost $10 million, as union workers are guaranteed a two-per-cent wage increase each year until 2024. Workers must become unionized within 30 days of joining a Pattullo job site.
It is unclear if the underground Broadway SkyTrain line will also be more expensive as a result of the agreement.
Construction is expected to begin in 2020 and conclude five years later, adding 5.7 kilometres and six stations to the Millennium Line, extending it from the VCC-Clark station to Arbutus Street. It is being funded primarily by the provincial and federal governments, and TransLink.
Earlier in the day, another Vancouver transit project received a boost when the TransLink Mayors’ Council endorsed SkyTrain as the technology for the eventual transit extension from the end of the proposed subway line at Arbutus Street out to the University of British Columbia.
At a meeting Friday morning, the Mayors’ Council on Regional Transportation voted in favour of proceeding with planning for SkyTrain to UBC instead of other transit options, including light rail. Only Port Moody Mayor Rob Vagramov and White Rock Mayor Darryl Walker were opposed.
Before the decision, Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart said that in the interest of acting “collaboratively” on a regional decision, he would not be calling for a weighted vote. Later, in an interview, he thanked his fellow mayors for “coming together as a region today.”
But the mayor was careful not to get ahead of himself.
“I think this is the fifth vote we’ve had (on the UBC line) and there could be 10 more to go,” he said. “This vote won’t get SkyTrain built, but it also didn’t kill it.”
Stewart has been a strong advocate of extending rapid transit to UBC.
In late January, Vancouver city council voted 9-2 to endorse a SkyTrain extension from Arbutus Street to UBC, and to direct staff to “advance the design development including public consultation to determine station locations, vertical and horizontal alignment.”
The second phase of TransLink’s 10-year transportation plan for the region set aside $3 million to develop concept designs and undertake pre-business-case work for the line to UBC.
The last evaluation of options for the line was done in 2012, so last year TransLink hired a consultant to do a study to consider technology, operating assumptions, demand forecasts and costs.
Four options had been considered: optimized B-Line bus service, light rail from Arbutus to UBC, light rail from Main Street-Science World to UBC and SkyTrain from Arbutus to UBC.
The updated study found that by 2030, optimized B-Line and parallel corridors would be overcrowded. By 2045, both light-rail routes would be near or over-capacity, and parallel corridors would be crowded. SkyTrain would also be nearing capacity, however, it could be doubled with higher frequency and longer trains.
A preliminary cost estimate, in 2018 dollars, for a fully tunnelled SkyTrain extension would be $3.3 billion to $3.8 billion. However, inflation would push the cost to $4.1 billion to $4.8 billion if procurement begins in 2025 and the project is completed in 2030. Ridership for a new rapid transit line from Arbutus Street to UBC is projected to exceed 118,000 by 2045.