(Dayamay/Pixabay)
If you live anywhere near Fraser Highway, you’ve no doubt been pulling your hair out during your daily commute recently. The Surrey-Langley extension of the Skytrain’s Expo Line has been underway for a few years at this point, delaying traffic on the highway as construction crews begin to go vertical. I mean, it’s not ideal for the thousands upon thousands of commuters who use Fraser Highway every day, but as a bit of a Skytrain nut, it’s fantastic to see the massive crawler cranes, the piers for the track, and the stations themselves beginning to materialize. But as we approach the tentative 2029 opening date, one must ask this question: What’s next?
Well, actually, we do already know some things about the immediate future of the network. UBC will be integrated further into the system with the upcoming Broadway Subway project, which will expand the Millennium Line to Arbutus Street, providing easier access to the province’s most prominent university. The line won’t go all the way to the Endowment Lands just yet, but it’ll only be a matter of time until it pushes through.
So after that, what’s next? Well, we don’t really know, but we can certainly make some educated guesses.
1.The Northshore
If you pull out a map of the Skytrain system, you might notice that one notable part of Metro Vancouver is entirely empty. North Vancouver and West Vancouver have been a thorn in TransLink’s side for a long time, as any effort to take the train across the Burrard Inlet will no doubt cost a fortune, requiring a new bridge or tunnel. So, are there any plans set in stone? Well, no, but in 2020, the province stated they have been discussing six separate routes for fixed transit across (or beneath) the Burrard, so it’s safe to say that something is undoubtedly in the pipeline.
2. Port Coquitlam
The seeds for a Port Coquitlam expansion of the Skytrain were planted long ago. Infrastructure was built during Coquitlam Centre’s expansion of the Evergreen line; the plan has always been to eventually reach PoCo. Despite this, I can’t see this happening soon. At all. There are quite a few high-priority projects going on at the moment; in comparison, a Port Coquitlam extension seems like something that can wait another decade or so.
3. South Surrey and White Rock
Another region that’s lacking the Skytrain is South Surrey and its tiny neighbor, White Rock. The Surrey-Langley extension will bring the train within a reasonable distance of the area, and potentially serve as a jumping-off point for a future line, say, down King George Boulevard, but like Port Coquitlam, there’s no world where this is a priority for TransLink. The region is connected enough to the rest of Metro Vancouver via Highway 99 and bus routes, although a line that terminates near one of the two US border crossings in Surrey couldn’t be a bad idea.
4. Beyond Metro Vancouver
TransLink operates transportation in Metro Vancouver only; the rest of the province is administered by BC Transit, whose buses you may have seen on Highway 1 or in Victoria. But TransLink’s presence does extend into our neighboring region, the Fraser Valley, with the West Coast Express, which runs from Waterfront Station downtown all the way to Mission. So, is there any future for the Skytrain in the Fraser Valley? Unless Abbotsford’s population magically grows to be that of Surrey’s overnight, no. Even if such a thing were to happen, the answer would likely stay the same. The SkyTrain was designed with Metro Vancouver in mind. Sure, it can theoretically be expanded outwards, but where’s the limit? The further you get from Vancouver, the fewer people there are to serve. I’m sure there are probably people in Chilliwack who’d like a train, but it’s just not feasible for the system in place.
As one of the seven people that live in Langley (I kid. There are nine of us.), I’m excited to see my city become further integrated into Metro Vancouver. I would’ve been even more excited if the train opened when I’m still at school, but I guess sitting in an hour of traffic on the highway every morning will have to do until 2029. Whatever the future holds for the SkyTrain, I’m sure it will continue to serve us well for years to come, and I, for one, can’t wait for the inevitable extension to Kamloops.
Written by Noah Schmidt
Contact: nschmidt20@my.bcit.ca