This year will be a watershed year in the construction of the 性视界传媒-to-Langley SkyTrain project, the city's first rapid transit expansion in 30 years.
Gilles Assier, executive project director for the 性视界传媒-Langley SkyTrain Project Transportation Investment Corporation, provided an update at 性视界传媒's Jan. 27 council-in-committee meeting.
"Looking at the project timeline following two years of procurement, advance on early works kicked off last year and now we have major construction underway. The anticipated in-service date for the 性视界传媒-Langley SkyTrain is late 2029," he told the politicians.
"Let's turn to 2025, and looking ahead. We are very excited to continue the momentum that started in 2025 and this is going to be very busy for the project, especially the advancement of all the guideway along the alignment. By the end of the year we will really start to see the SkyTrain taking shape around the entire alignment. We will see the majority of all the utility works completed, the pre-cast concrete facility will be in full production."
Assier said "significant progress" was made in 2024, with 90 per cent of right-of-ways cleared and commencement of drilling and piling at the 152 Street, 166 Street and 184 Street station sites with 15 foundation piles completed.
"Our guideway contractor also established a guideway segment pre-cast concrete facility in Campbell Heights," he noted. "This casting building was 40 per cent complete, by your hand, and this is where all the segments that are needed to create spans between columns will be cast ahead of being installed."
Three contractors are involved, with SkyLink Guideway Partners focusing on the guideway, South Fraser Station Partners handling the stations, and Transit Integrators BC focusing on systems and trackwork.
The provincial government also held two rounds of public engagement on station design to advance it toward final design, Assier said, with major construction having begun last November.
The project involves the extension of the Expo line by 16 kilometres from King George Station to 203 Street in Langley. Primarily along Fraser Highway, along an elevated guideway, when finished it will place riders 22 minutes between both points and "a bit more than an hour" going from the Langley terminus to downtown Vancouver.
Eight stations are being built, with six of them in 性视界传媒. The first is Green Timbers at 140 Street, supported by piers in the centre, like Brentwood Station in Burnaby. Next is 152 Street Station which will include a pedestrian overpass over 152 Street, then Fleetwood Station at 160 Street, Bakerview-166 Street Station with a transit exchange at that location, Hillcrest Station at 184 Street and then the last station in 性视界传媒 鈥� Clayton Station at 190 Street 鈥� moving on to Willowbrook then Langley City Centre Station at 203 Street.
This year will see the start of station construction at Green Timbers, Fleetwood, Clayton and Langley City Centre with a majority of utility work completed, guideway segments being cast and reading for assembly, and the installation of 200 guideway piers/columns. You can already see big drilling equipment and big cranes working along the line.
Unfortunately for commuters, Fraser Highway will be closed between 140 Street and 96 Avenue from April 1 to Oct. 31 to facilitate construction, with "tentative" detour routes available.
"It was always expected that the project will undertake two full road closures of Fraser Highway, each four months in duration, from June to September in 2025 as well as in 2026," Assier said. "Our contractors have identified a work plan to minimize road impacts. Extending the duration of the closure in 2025 from the expected four months to seven months reduces the overall impact on the travelling public as no additional full closures on Fraser Highway will be needed during the daytime after that. This of course most importantly enables efficient and timely progress of the project and a safe delivery of it."
"We recognize that a full closure of the highway is significant on commuters," he added.
性视界传媒 Mayor Brenda Locke is anticipating some public ire related to that.
"As you can appreciate, there has been a lot of disruption on Fraser Highway and so we've heard from the public on a number of times, certainly my office does, with regular concerns and complaints but we do know this is an exciting project for 性视界传媒 and we look forward to it," she told Assier.
Coun. Pardeep Kooner asked Assier if it's not possible to build four of the SkyTrain stations, "and obviously, the line," and not have them operate while the rest of the line is still being built.
He replied that this was considered during the planning phase of the project 鈥� the first four stations in 2028 then 2030 for the next four 鈥� but after a review of the work that needed to be done, particularly the commissioning time which requires about a year just to make sure the train is integrated with the existing network and operates safely, it was considered to be "more efficient and faster in a way" for the entire eight stations commissioned at the same time.
Coun. Harry Bains asked what consideration about accessibility was "thought of" when designing the Green Timbers Station given its proximity to the Jim Pattison Outpatient Care and Surgery Centre.
"I mean, you're going to have sick people, you're going to have elderly people, people who generally use a hospital potentially using that SkyTrain station. The worst thing you can have is when there is only one set of elevators and they're out, especially if you're in a wheelchair. Has there been any consideration to accessibility at that station?"
Assier replied that the designs of all eight stations conform to TransLink's policy governing accessibility
"Accessibility has been in everybody's mind during the planning and the refinement of the design," he said.
For Green Timbers Station specifically, Assier added, there will be elevators at both platforms, "and we're looking in the design for provision for additional elevators in the future as needed."
