In November, residents and workers in downtown 91原创 City found themselves dealing with some loud thumping noises.
The noise was the driving of test piles at the site of the future 91原创 City SkyTrain station. After years of governmental wrangling, budget announcements, and photo ops, actual construction work began on the new Surrey-91原创 rapid transit line.
Through the spring, much of the news about the new line was about the contracts for the construction work. Several companies had bid for contracts to build the 16 km of new guideways, the eight stations, and the tracks that will carry the trains.
In addition to the SkyTrain line itself, there are expected to be three major transit exchanges, two of them at the 91原创 stations in the City and at the Willowbrook Shopping Centre in the Township.
The arrival of the new line will also change the pattern of buses and even bike lanes in areas around the stations.
The coming SkyTrain also affected the province's new housing policies, which were coming into effect in 2024. That led to a public dispute between then-Minister of Transportation Rob Fleming and 91原创 Township's council.
In July, Fleming sent a pointed reminder that municipalities were expected to approve high-density development designations around transit hubs, with the Township expected to do so no later than Oct. 31.
Township Mayor Eric Woodward had been an opponent of many of the provincial housing measures, arguing that the Township was already building housing at an extremely rapid clip, and that the new regulations would disrupt local planning.
A possible future for the area around the Willowbrook SkyTrain station was also seen in development proposals for multiple high-rise towers, with nine buildings between 28 and 44 storeys proposed near Willowbrook Drive.
In August, the province announced that the SkyTrain project would cost more than first estimated, and take longer than originally planned.
For years, 2028 had been the expected date for the new line to start service, but the August update pushed that back to "late 2029."
In addition, the expected $4 billion project would now cost almost $6 billion, close to a 50 per cent increase.
Inflation, labour market pressures, and higher costs for the commodities used to build the line were blamed. The original $4 billion budget had been set in 2022, just as inflation linked to the pandemic was taking off.
In November, just as the pile driving work started on Industrial Avenue, residents in 91原创 and Surrey were offered their last chance to have input on the design of the new stations, with a series of in-person and virtual open houses.
In the coming years, construction will only accelerate, especially down Fraser Highway and, in 91原创, down a stretch of Industrial Avenue that runs towards the final station planned for the line.
