Ahead of a major road closure in Vancouver, community members have been invited to a town hall meeting about the impact it will have on drivers, pedestrians, and businesses.
Beginning next month, the area around Broadway and Main Street will be closed for up to four months as crews remove the traffic deck and rebuild the road above what will eventually be the Mount Pleasant Station.
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The Mount Pleasant Business Improvement Association (MPBIA) will host Monday evening’s town hall, and its website states that members are worried.
“The ramifications will have an impact on the entire area, as this closure will be diverting traffic onto our side streets, affecting parking and access, as well as forcing people to find alternate routes, driving business away from Mount Pleasant,” said a MPBIA statement.
It says the years since construction began have been taxing on businesses, which are struggling with increased costs and pressures brought on by the local and national economies.
“The newly announced four-month shutdown, followed by further traffic restrictions, will create pressures far beyond what many businesses can absorb without meaningful provincial support. Emergency measures such as mitigation grants, tax relief, rent offsets, or activation funding will be essential.”
Broadway has also seen dozens of closures as owners pack up and either move elsewhere or shut down for good, citing disruptions from construction as the main culprit.
In a recent overview, the MPBIA says it discovered more than 80 storefronts along its seven-block stretch of Broadway have shut down since SkyTrain construction began in 2020.
“Those are jobs gone, families that have been impacted, and financial losses that will stay with folks for a long time. And again, the province has no response, no help, no anything,” Neil Wyles, MPBIA executive director, told 1130 NewsRadio.
Wyles says Monday’s meeting is about giving business owners a face-to-face opportunity with provincial officials.
“They are staring you in the face, and they say that they need some help. This is the time for leadership. This is not the time for burying your head in the sand and hiding behind some policy that some staffer is telling you to enforce.”
The association says the town hall will include officials from the province, the city, business groups, and community members.
As for the subway line, the project has been delayed multiple times and blown through its budget.
It’s, at least, $127 million over budget and is expected to open sometime in 2027.
The 5.7-kilometre extension of the Millennium Line, from VCC-Clark Station to Arbutus, is expected to alleviate traffic on the road and get people out to UBC even faster. The province says 700 metres will be elevated and five kilometres will be tunnelled below ground. The line will include six underground stations.
Monday’s town hall will begin at 6 p.m. at The Pleasant restaurant on Main Street near East 8th Avenue.
