The much-anticipated Evergreen Line will open before Christmas, the province announced Thursday.
The $1.43-billon project, which is more than 90 per cent complete, will link Burnaby, Port Moody and Coquitlam to Vancouver via Lougheed Town Centre station. Some 70,000 riders are expected to use the service daily by 2021, according to the government.
“The opening of the Evergreen extension will be a major milestone in TransLink’s history and we are getting ready behind the scenes to help ensure a seamless transition for our customers,” said Kevin Desmond, TransLink CEO, in a press release.
The province also announced an additional 150 parking spaces will be built at the end of the 11-kilometre stretch, at the Lafarge Lake-Douglas station. They will be on top of the 500 new parking spaces already in the works for the Evergreen Line, including some at Moody Centre station and some at Coquitlam Centre station.
“These additional parking spots will especially help those commuters who also have to drop off children or complete other errands before or after their daily commute,” said Coquitlam Mayor Richard Stewart.
Construction of the Evergreen Line began in February 2013. At the time, it was estimated it would be operational by summer 2016. Crews ran into issues last year when they were tunnel boring and readjusted the completion date to early 2017.
An exact date of when systems will be fully functional has yet to be determined. That will be announced in the months to come.
