As Phyllis and Elsie burrow beneath Broadway, behind them they're leaving a brand new tunnel, ready for rail and, in the future, light rail transit.
But what exactly does that tunnel look like? The Ministry of Transportation shared these photos and video with V.I.A. of one of the finished tunnel sections on the new Broadway Subway line's eastern side, between the incoming Mount Pleasant station and the expanding Broadway-City Hall station.
The massive machines are about 100 metres long and move only 18 metres a day, meaning the journey from Great Northern Way to Arbutus Street will take until late 2023. However, once it's all finished (in 2026) the subway trip is expected to take minutes and replace buses on the busy Broadway roadway.
Budgets for the mega-project estimate the cost at $2.83 billion, once everything is taken into account.
In the video and photos there isn't much in the tunnel yet; what can be seen is what's used to service the tunnelling machines, including a conveyor belt used to remove excavated material.
The visible pipes are used to move things like water and grout to the front of the machines. There are also power cables, as the boring machines are electric.
In one clip of the video, a seating area can be seen. This isn't a break room or a place to sit while things are in motion; it's a refuge site, in case workers need a safe place to hide in an emergency, with breathable air.
