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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