Some businesses are frustrated because Broadway Subway Project blocks access, parking – BC | The Canadian News

Some businesses on the Broadway freeway in Vancouver say they are frustrated because construction on a subway line extension is blocking access to their customer threshold.

Portions of the busy corridor, its sidewalks and parking stalls have been cordoned off for months to accommodate work on the Broadway subway project, a 5.7-mile extension of the Millennium Line.

“It was cruel,” said Neil Wyles, executive director of the Mount Pleasant Business Improvement Association.

“There is no stop, there is no parking. I let businesses leave just because you can not reach them.”

Construction began on the $ 2.38 billion project in May and the new line is not expected to open until 2025.

When completed, it will include 700 elevated meters from VCC-Clark Station to a tunnel portal near Great Northern Way, and five miles below the Broadway corridor from Great Northern Way to Arbutus Street.

Six underground stations will connect communities with the region, including a connection to the Canada Line at Cambie Street.

However, the project has had an impact on some businesses, who are now worried that they will not survive to see the expansion underway.

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“Unless their ultimate goal is to just drive us off the street, I would hope they want to find solutions that make it possible for us to be here by the time this project is finished, because 2025 is still a long way off.” said Catherine Ellsmere, co-owner of Odin Books, a mental health bookstore on Broadway.

Foot traffic to her store has essentially stalled, she told Global News, and Ellsmere is placing her hopes in online sales and pre-orders.

“We’re a mental health bookstore, right? People come here because they are anxious and if we make it so stressful and so frightening to come here, it defeats the purpose,” she said.

The BC Department of Transportation said it could not respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

Transport Minister Rob Fleming had previously said “extensive consultations” had been held with businesses along Broadway prior to the project, but the street would remain open through construction.

Stopping along sections of it, however, is prohibited until July 28, 2023, according to signs posted on some parts of the street.

Earlier this week, the Storm Crow Alehouse on Broadway closed its doors for good, citing supply and labor shortages, and construction of the Broadway Subway Project as contributing factors.

“It’s really been an obstacle for business these past few months,” marketing officer Jessica Langer said at the time. “We noticed that traffic was exhausted. We spoke to our restaurant neighbors and they also said they were struggling quite a bit. ”

Portside Interiors, a furniture store, opened on Broadway in 2021, and owner Gene Guindon said they knew of the challenges that would come with the project.

However, he hopes to gain access to Main Street rather than stay behind construction fences, saying his “fingers are crossed”.

“If you can not stop, you can not go shopping,” he told Global News.