Broadway is a major east-west thoroughfare in the city of Vancouver,
British Columbia, Canada. In Vancouver's numbered avenue grid system, it
runs in place of a 9th Avenue, between 8th and 10th. The street has six
lanes for most of its course. Portions of the street carry the British
Columbia Highway 7 designation.
The route begins
as "West Broadway" at the intersection of Wallace Crescent and 8th
Avenue, in the affluent residential neighbourhood of West Point Grey, a
few kilometres east of the University of British Columbia (UBC). Past
Alma Street, Broadway takes over from 10th Avenue as one of Vancouver's
major thoroughfares, as it enters Greek West Broadway (or Greektown)
section of Vancouver's Kitsilano district. East of here are several
blocks of generally trendy, upscale shops interspersed with low-rise
apartment blocks and small supermarkets. The surrounding neighbourhoods
generally consist of large, older homes dating from the early twentieth
century, many of which have been subdivided into rental suites.
As
Broadway approaches Arbutus Street, the commercial establishments
become larger before transitioning into a mix of small to mid-size
apartment blocks. East of Burrard Street, the apartment blocks get
progressively taller, and commercial establishments larger and busier.
Between Burrard and Main Street, Broadway can be considerably congested
by vehicular traffic. Past Granville Street, Broadway yields completely
to medium-to-large commercial structures and high-rise apartments and
condominiums. Between Cambie and Main, the commercial establishments
become smaller and somewhat more downscale.
At Ontario Street,
two blocks west of Main, the route becomes "East Broadway." After
bisecting Main and Kingsway, traffic on Broadway eases somewhat, and the
character returns to a mix of small-to-medium apartment buildings and
commercial establishments, interspersed with older homes - all
considerably less affluent than those to the west. At Commercial Drive,
Broadway passes by the Commercial–Broadway SkyTrain Station. Past here
for several blocks, the neighbourhood consists predominantly of older
residential homes.
As Broadway travels east of Renfrew Street,
the neighbourhood once again becomes mixed, with older homes to the
north and larger industrial, commercial, and warehouse establishments to
the south. Broadway finally ends at Cassiar Street, just short of the
Vancouver-Burnaby boundary, where it becomes the Lougheed Highway.
Broadway
was created at the turn of the 20th century, along with other gridded
roads south of False Creek, to meet the needs of an expanding population
in Vancouver. The name of the route was changed from 9th Avenue to
Broadway in 1909, at the behest of merchants around Main Street (at that
time the hub of Vancouver commerce), who felt that it bestowed a more
cosmopolitan air. Commercial establishments originally spread out around
the intersections of Cambie and Main Streets, while the character of
the rest of the route remained predominantly single-family dwellings.
By
the 1970s, the length of Broadway had become a major arterial route in
Vancouver, conveying commuters from downtown to the neighbourhoods of
the west and east sides. With the growth of UBC and the expansion of the
Vancouver General Hospital (one block south of Broadway between
approximately Oak and Cambie), traffic demands accelerated. In the
1990s, the agency then responsible for public transit in Greater
Vancouver — BC Transit — introduced an express bus route, the 99 B-Line,
to help reduce congestion. The Vancouver transportation plan for
Broadway notes that congestion is such that the bus service is at
capacity, and will not be eased until a new rapid transit line is built
paralleling the street. It is anticipated that the SkyTrain's Millennium
Line will be extended to Central Broadway by 2021; the extension is
expected to connect with Canada Line at Broadway-City Hall Station, at
the intersection of Broadway and Cambie Street.
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