91原创 Township councillors got an update on progress on the new Surrey-91原创 SkyTrain extension, and one key question they raised was accessibility and elevators.
Gilles Assier, the executive project director of the B.C. Crown corporation building the 16-km line, gave a progress update to local leaders at the Jan. 27 council meeting.
The project has made significant progress in 2024, Assier said, and he laid out what has been accomplished and what the next phases will be.
Among other work, demolition and site prep is underway at the sites of future stations, including the Willowbrook Station in 91原创 Township, and the 91原创 City Centre Station in 91原创 City.
The contractor building the guideway is creating a pre-casting concrete facility in Campbell Heights in Surrey, where hundreds of concrete segments for the guideway will be built before being placed between the pylons.
About 200 guideway columns are planned to be put into place in 2025, Assier said, and work will start on the guideway foundations at the Willowbrook Station site around mid- to late-summer this year, with work extending east towards the City station.
鈥淲e are very excited to continue the momentum we experienced last year," Assier said.
After his presentation, councillors lobbed a number of questions at Assier, including about the number of elevators at the stations.
Councillor Tim Baillie was the first to bring it up, pointing out that many existing SkyTrain stations only have one elevator. When that elevator breaks down or requires maintenance, it makes the entire station inaccessible to people in wheelchairs or those who otherwise can't use the stairs or escalators.
Assie said there are provisions for up to two elevators at two stations on the extension, both in Surrey 鈥� at 140 Street and Fleetwood. He said they were following TransLink guidelines for the single-elevator design.
Woodward asked about why making sure there are two elevators at each station wouldn't be possible.
"I'm not sure why it's not the standard," Assie said.
Woodward said he would be following up on that.
Councillors had a few other questions, including one from Coun. Michael Pratt about whether the recently-announced decision to run a Bus Rapid Transit line down 200 Street, ending at the Willowbrook SkyTrain station, would impact the design of the station. Assie said the area around the Willowbrook Station is expected to have a bus loop already, and the BRT is not likely to change the setup there.
Pratt and Coun. Barb Martens had questions about Transit Police services around the stations.
Assie noted that the station design for 91原创 City Centre calls for a full Transit Police hub office, where members of the public can enter. Several other stations, including Willowbrook, will include office space where Transit Police officers can do administrative work.
The SkyTrain extension began as a TransLink priority, but it is being built by the B.C. government, with much of the funding coming from the provincial and federal governments.
The line is currently scheduled to open to the public in late 2029, with testing of the line and guideway taking place as early as 2028. Originally, the line was scheduled to open in late 2028.
