Sunday, May 26, 2019

Near Metrotown station in Burnaby. Winter of 2018.

Metrotown is an elevated station on the Expo Line of Metro Vancouver's SkyTrain rapid transit system. The station is located in the Metrotown area of Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. It is the fifth-busiest station in the SkyTrain system. The station is located between Central Boulevard and Beresford Street, east of Willingdon Avenue.

Metrotown station was built in 1985 as part of the original SkyTrain system, on what is now known as the Expo Line. The overhead walkway that led to Metropolis at Metrotown shopping centre was added to the station in 1989. Originally, the bus loop was open-air and connected to the station via an at-grade street crossing.

The station was originally designed as a suburban station serving residential neighbourhoods and local transit connections. It experienced a major traffic increase due to the opening of nearby shopping centres and the redevelopment of the neighbourhood, leading to passenger loads and circulation surpassing the design capacity of the original station.

In 2007, TransLink established plans for a major retrofit and redesign of the station to improve passenger flow and increase station capacity. Construction began in February 2015, with an estimated cost of $55.5 million.

On November 15, 2016, TransLink closed the pedestrian overpass that connected the station to the Metropolis shopping centre. The closure was a result of preparation work required in rebuilding the east stationhouse. No timeline was provided for when a replacement overpass would open. The closure has led to criticism and extra travel time for many passengers.

The centre stationhouse opened to the public on March 24, 2017, and features new stairs and elevators. On July 24, 2017, the west stationhouse opened, featuring four escalators.

The rebuilt east stationhouse opened on March 19, 2018, and—like the west stationhouse—it also features four escalators. Upon completion of the third phase, the station has a total of eight escalators, three elevators as well as stairs to and from platform level.









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