Although this major vacant industrial site in Campbell Heights is 10 km away from Fraser Highway, it will play a critical role in the construction of the Surrey-Langley SkyTrain (SLS) extension.
The City of Surrey will lease the 30-acre municipally-owned “Stokes Pit” site at 19526 24 Avenue and 19525 20 Avenue — located at the southwest corner of the intersection of 196 Street and 24 Avenue — to Skylink Guideway Constructors.
Skylink is one of the three private consortiums selected by the provincial government to build the 16-km-long elevated guideway that extends the Expo Line along Fraser Highway from King George Station to Langley City Centre. The consortium is comprised of Dragados Canada, Ledcor, and SYSTRA International Bridge Technologies.
This site will be used for the pre-cast yard for the elevated guideway construction — where about 5,000 guideway concrete precast segments will be fabricated, before the segments are transported for assembly on Fraser Highway.
Location of Surrey-Langley SkyTrain’s pre-cast yard at 19526 24 Avenue and 19525 20 Avenue in Surrey’s Campebell Heights. (Google Maps)
Location of Surrey-Langley SkyTrain’s pre-cast yard at 19526 24 Avenue and 19525 20 Avenue in Surrey’s Campebell Heights. (Google Maps)
The sprawling facility will be comprised of a pre-engineered steel building, where precast moulds will create the individual concrete segments of the elevated guideway. This facility also entails its own concrete batch plant, storage areas equipped with rail-mounted gantry cranes, office space, parking, and ample space for heavy-duty trailer trucks to transport the segments.
When operational, the pre-cast yard will be home to 350 on-site jobs, including 300 tradespeople and 50 supporting staff.
Skylink’s lease will begin with an initial 33-month term, with an option to renew for an additional 36 months, which covers the duration required for on-site facility construction and demolition. The lease will formally begin on January 1, 2025.
Skylink is already performing site preparation activities — such as grading and earthworks — ahead of the start of the construction of the pre-cast yard.
Site layout of Surrey-Langley SkyTrain’s pre-cast yard at 19526 24 Avenue and 19525 20 Avenue in Surrey’s Campebell Heights. (Skylink Guideway Constructors)
“Surrey City Council is working to get the Surrey-Langley SkyTrain extension project built as quickly as possible,” said Surrey mayor Brenda Locke in a statement today.
“This Pre-Cast Yard lease agreement will enable the province to speed up work on this critical project. The SLS project isn’t merely a long-awaited transportation link; it’s a transformative investment in our future that will enhance mobility, reduce travel times, and propel Surrey’s economic growth.”
Upon the conclusion of the elevated guideway fabrication process, Skylink will return the site to its original state, and it will be made available for future development under Campbell Heights’ existing “business park” uses.
Pre-cast yard operations were also required for the concrete elevated guideway and bored tunnel segments for the Canada Line and the Millennium Line’s Evergreen and Broadway extensions.
Completed pre-cast concrete rings for SkyTrain Millennium Line’s Evergreen extension stored at the Langley pre-cast yard, 2014. (APS Architectural Precast Structures)
Major construction work on the Surrey-Langley SkyTrain project is scheduled to officially begin before the end of 2024.
In August 2024, the provincial government announced it had finalized and signed the three major separate construction contracts with Skylink, South Fraser Station Partners, and Transit Integrators BC.
South Fraser Station Partners, the selected consortium responsible for the construction of the eight stations, is composed of Acciona Infrastructure (the same builder of SkyTrain’s Broadway Extension and the new Pattullo Bridge), Aecon Group, Pomerleau, and AECOM Constructors. Francl Architecture and Perkins&Will will again reprise their roles as the architectural design firms for the region’s newest SkyTrain stations, collaboratively working with AECOM’s architectural design division.
As well, the consortium called Transit Integrators BC — comprised of AtkinsRéalis (previously known as SNC Lavalin) and Western Pacific Enterprises — will install the tracks, electrical systems, and automated train control.
As of August 2024, upon the finalization of the contracts, the total cost of building the Surrey-Langley SkyTrain has risen by 50% to $5.996 billion — up from the 2021/2022 estimate of $3.94 billion, before the start of rampant inflationary market conditions.
Additionally, the Surrey-Langley SkyTrain will open a year later by the end of 2029, instead of the previous completion date of late 2028. SkyTrain Millennium Line’s Broadway extension project reaching Arbutus is also significantly delayed, now slated to open in Fall 2027.
The delays to the Broadway extension project are partly attributed to a strike of Lower Mainland concrete plant workers in Summer 2022.
Separate from the Surrey-Langley SkyTrain project is the provincial government’s expected forthcoming project of building SkyTrain’s fifth operations and maintenance centre (OMC5).
As previously reported by Daily Hive Urbanized in June 2024, OMC5 will be built on the 36.5-acre site of 17916 Fraser Highway in Surrey’s North Cloverdale area, within an area that was up until recently classified as a part of the Agricultural Land Reserve. The OMC5 site is located at the southeast corner of the intersection of Fraser Highway and 176 Street (Pacific Highway) — just east of the Serpentine River.
Public sector procurement files suggest OMC5 could carry a total construction cost of over $1 billion — on top of the $5.996 billion cost of building the SkyTrain extension. OMC5 is necessary to maintain and store the growing SkyTrain car fleet — for both the specific needs of the extension and the overall long-term needs of the SkyTrain network — and support the maintenance needs of SkyTrain’s extensive infrastructure situated South of the Fraser.