Frances Bula header image 2
← →

What is going on at Broadway and Cambie?

March 12th, 2009 · 10 Comments

I keep hearing stories about why the intersection at Cambie and Broadway has had to be dug up repeatedly (much to the dismay of those who thought the torture was over). The city says it’s just an ongoing process of work because there are so many utilities at that intersection that had to be dealt with separately. Others, including people who work nearby and who’ve talked to workers onsite, tell me that it involves some kind of major glitch.

Do any of you good people have any solid information about what is going on there? Please email me at [email protected] if you do.

Categories: Uncategorized

  • City Hall Insider

    We have heard that the Tyam gang drilled a bunch of anchor rods into the sewer when they were shoring up the other side of the street. Causing a redo. Oh well cost plus means money in someones pocket.
    One of many screw ups on this project. Remember the restaurant that was flooded out a while ago, that was due to a cave in created by another screw up. This has caused major problem with our pump station at the foot of Cambie, which is overburdened with the Olympic Village. Can you say “Crap in the Creekgate”
    City Crews could have done the work for way less. So much for P3s.

  • Sewer-rat

    City sewers crews cut through an emergency communication duct when they were relocating the sewer main on Cambie.

  • Not running for mayor

    Any errors are bode by the contractor can not be billed for and the contractor must eat them, with the exception of if they were to drill those hole based on inaccurate plans supplied by the city. (Not sure what the case is in this issue)

  • L

    My understanding is that it is utilities work. They’ve dug separate trenches down Cambie, which supports the notion that there are mutliple utilities being replaced. (My insider info just comes from walking past the construction every day.)

  • Andrea C.

    I overheard this on the bus a few months back. Someone who claimed to be close to someone working on the project basically said that there were serious problems with the shallow dig as all the piping just below the suface along the Skytrain route was NOT taken into account. According to my third-hand source, this put enormous financial and time pressures on the project. Someone who actually does know about this (if they’re reading & willing to be frank), could affirm or dispute this. It sounds like a classic “mo’ money, mo’ money” engineering “mistake” to me, but I am such a cynic. It is known that megaprojects often come with their own megabooboos.

  • Donny

    No glitch here. Many utilities (water main, sewers, telecommunications & BC Hydro) were cut off & moved out of the way before the station and tunnel were to be constructed. Now that those are finished, the utilities have to be replaced. Simple as that.

  • East Vancouverite

    My understanding is that the excavation and utility relocation is for the planted median that is going in along Cambie St.

  • Peter G

    Perhaps someone can explain why, after digging a massive trench from one end of Cambie to the other, the opportunity was not taken to separate the grades at major intersections. It would have been an ideal time to run Broadway, 12th etc… under Cambie and mitigate some of the congestion. At the very least the city could have separated the cars from the pedestrians. Not that one would expect anything innovative from the current gang in our engineering department. They don’t often think any further than another set of traffic lights.

  • L

    I, for one, don’t want grade separated intersections. Go visit the Hastings/Raymur St viaduct, walk along Raymur. See how it sucks.

    Grade separation is great for traffic flow and blows for pedestrians. I think we should build a city that’s good for people, not cars.

  • Peter G

    L..
    You need to travel a bit further than East Van. Take a look at Madrid or Barcelona. Great cities for pedestrians. What’s mysterious about running cars in a tunnel along Cambie and having our own ramblas….