As a block of Broadway closes for four months, nearby businesses ask for help

Since 2021, active construction on the Broadway Subway has marred the high street’s roadway and sidewalks with detours, constrictions, and closures. The years-long construction process means the inconveniences have become a daily and accepted, or at least tolerated, part of the urban landscape. 

But on Monday, that status quo was shaken up with a one-block closure of Broadway between Main and Quebec streets to allow a temporary vehicle deck above the new Mount Pleasant station to be removed and replaced. The road will be closed for the next four months, approximately, according to an October 2025 announcement by the Province of BC’s Ministry of Transportation and Transit.

While it’s just one block, there are cascading effects from closing and rerouting a major arterial route. The road closure is already increasing traffic on the nearby 10th Avenue bike lane and causing delays for buses moving through the detour on 8th Avenue, according to transit and road safety advocacy groups.   

“We saw an immediate decrease in foot traffic and business yesterday, and I think that people are avoiding the area, which was something of concern,” Mount Pleasant Business Improvement Area (BIA) Executive Director Neil Wyles told Vancity Lookout on Tuesday. 

When Vancity Lookout visited the area on the same day, there were at least five “neighbourhood ambassadors” representing the Broadway Subway project positioned on sidewalks at either end of the closure to help pedestrians navigate the new routes around the project site. The ambassadors will be on site during the first week of this closure, and will return during subsequent new phases of the construction process. 

By closing the block for four months, the road replacement can be completed “up to 50 percent faster, minimizing impacts on businesses, residents, and commuters,” according to the Ministry of Transportation and Transit.

Originally scheduled for completion in 2025, the new SkyTrain line is now expected to be in service by the fall of 2027. 

“Once opened, and regardless of the time of day or traffic conditions, the commute from Commercial Broadway Station to Arbutus Street will only take 11 minutes, saving the average commuter over 30 minutes a day or 120 hours per year,” the province said of the project’s benefit. 

Cautious optimism for beleaguered businesses

Businesses in Mount Pleasant have been organizing and speaking out against the impacts of the road closure and the construction period more generally. At a community town hall organized by the Mount Pleasant BIA in December, several business owners spoke about their struggles over the past five years and asked the province to support them through the last phase of the construction period.

Fable Diner owner Ron McGillivray, who operates his restaurant on Broadway between Main and Quebec, said he’s seen a 45% reduction in customers and a 30% drop in gross sales in the past three years compared to 2017-2019. 

McGillivray sold his house to keep the business afloat and works 10-12 hours per day, “basically” seven days a week. “I'm not mad at the province, and I'm not asking for sympathy, but I'm asking for a solution,” he told the assembled crowd. Provincial officials were notably absent at that event, despite being invited, Wyles pointed out. 

But on Tuesday, a day after the road closure came into effect, Wyles, McGillivray, and two other local business owners finally met with Minister of Transportation and Transit Mike Farnworth to discuss provincial support. While the province has ruled out direct compensation, the idea of grants, rebates, or low-interest loans to be repaid after the project is completed were all discussed, Wyles told Vancity Lookout. 

“Minister Farnworth committed to reaching out to his ministerial colleagues to see how this could be achieved, or navigated, or possible at all. So I'm encouraged and take him at his word that he'll be doing this,” Wyles said, though he didn’t receive any commitments from the province on when a support strategy might be decided on. 

“The discussion was productive, and any updates will be shared as soon as they become available,” the Ministry of Transportation and Transit said in a written statement responding to questions from Vancity Lookout. “Consistent with all ministry projects that improve British Columbia’s transportation infrastructure, the Province does not provide compensation for disruptions arising from construction,” they added.

“We stressed there was a sense of urgency, definitely by these businesses,” Wyles said. “So we needed to see the same urgency from Minister Farnworth and the appropriate ministers who he'd be working with.” Those other ministers would likely include Minister of Finance Brenda Bailey and Minister of Housing and Municipal Affairs Christine Boyle, both of whom represent Vancouver ridings where the Broadway Subway is being built. 

“We've not heard a lot from [Boyle] on this … we really need to see her throw her weight behind this,” Wyles said. 

Given all the unknowns, Wyles didn’t have an exact figure for the monetary support they’re asking the province for, but said the amount would be a “rounding error” in the context of the nearly $3 billion project. 

Not all bad news

Broadway businesses near the nascent Mount Pleasant station, like Fable Diner, Uphoria Yoga, and Portside Interiors, have struggled with various aspects of the construction. But it hasn’t been detrimental to all the businesses in the area. 

“I'm not too worried about it,” Rich Hope, owner and operator of The Belmont Barbershop, told Vancity Lookout. The barbershop sits a half block away from Fable Diner, but Hope said the construction hasn’t had any negative impact on his business. 

“I can't tell you that it's been necessarily difficult. We rely on return customers. I think that hair is important enough to some people that they don't want to not go somewhere just for a slight inconvenience,” Hope explained, adding that he knows his situation doesn’t necessarily match that of his neighbours. 

“I totally respect other businesses' experiences, because running a restaurant or a furniture store or anything else, that's gonna be just totally different from me,” he said.

One shared point for Hope and McGillivray is excitement about what the new transit line will bring to area when it’s finally completed. 

“I'm just more excited about what the prospects are for this street to become, it’s going to be great,” Hope said. “I mean thousands of people bubbling up [from] under the ground, like I'm literally on top of it …  I feel like it will be easy to drum up new business.”

The line is expected to serve an average 140,000 passengers per day, according to the province. For context, the 99 B-Line, which also serves Broadway and is the region's most popular bus route, averaged approximately 29,000 passengers per day in 2024, according to TransLink data. 

“I think the SkyTrain is going to be great for the area,” McGillivray said, but he’s more concerned with financial survival over the next two years. “I just want an opportunity to stay in business and be there when the SkyTrain comes… I don't want to go bankrupt,” before the project is finished, he said. 

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