Langley Township envisions potential LRT or SkyTrain on 200 Street

200 Street in Langley Township. (Township of Langley)

The Township of Langley has signalled it wants to densify its 200 Street corridor to prepare for rapid transit.

The short-to-medium term objective is to attract TransLink’s investment for a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) service.

The public transit authority’s 10-year priorities between 2025 and 2035 include a BRT route between Langley City Centre and Maple Ridge’s Haney Place via 200 Street and the Golden Ears Bridge, with this specific route implemented within the first five years of the strategy. The decision over whether the route is selected to be prioritized will be made by the Mayors’ Council this fall.

The municipal government has indicated that over the longer term, it would like BRT to become the precursor to a potential upgrade to street-level light rail transit (LRT) or SkyTrain.

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To improve the 200 Street corridor’s conditions for sustaining a more superior form of rapid transit, earlier this year, the Township launched a planning process called “200 Street 2040” to densify corridor’s uses for more optimal transit-oriented development.

This is an area planning exercise that will prescribe land use, higher densities, taller buildings, active transportation, required amenities and infrastructure, the level community amenity contributions from developers, urban design, and placemaking.

The planning area spans a five-km-long stretch of the north-south arterial spine of 200 Street from Willoughby Way (near Willowbrook Shopping Centre and the municipal border with the City of Langley) to just north of Highway 1. The corridor extends 800 metres from either side of the corridor.

Major destinations currently found along the corridor include Willoughby Community Park, where the 5,300-seat Langley Events Centre arena and the 6,600-seat soccer stadium for CPL Vancouver FC are located, as well as Cineplex Cinemas Langley.

latimer heights langley township vesta properties

Artistic rendering of The Towers at Latimer Heights in Langley Township. (Vesta Properties)

The corridor is also currently seeing significant new residential developments, including the major neighbourhood-sized Latimer Heights project by Vesta Properties, where the municipality’s first high-rise towers are under construction. The northernmost end of the corridor is experiencing intensified employment uses for its industrial park, including major distribution centres for Amazon, Best Buy, and Costco.

“Township Council is concerned that the development potential afforded by future frequent and rapid transit along 200 Street may not be fully realized based on the current forms of development occurring along the corridor, which include lower density residential and low-rise commercial,” reads a City staff report.

“Council wishes to ensure that remaining development opportunities along the 200 Street Corridor are maximized to leverage senior government investments in public transit, and to ensure greatest community benefit.”

200 Street 2040 area plan corridor langley township

The 200 Street 2040 Corridor planning area. (Township of Langley)

It is noted by City staff that the future highest densities will be focused around where 200 Street meets 72 Avenue, 80 Avenue, and 86 Avenue — major intersections where stations and transfer points to east-west bus routes can be expected. An additional development node between 72 Avenue and 80 Avenue — where Willoughby Community Park is located — is also likely.

At the south end of the corridor, the rapid transit service would enter the City of Langley’s limits to enable a major transfer point to SkyTrain’s future 203 Street Street Station — the terminus station in Langley City Centre for the Expo Line’s Surrey-Langley extension, which is expected to open in 2028.

To the north, across the Fraser River in Maple Ridge, the 200 Street rapid transit route would provide a link to the Lougheed Highway RapidBus/BRT and the West Coast Express commuter rail.

Existing condition of 200 Street within the Latimer area:

Existing condition of 200 Street in the Latimer neighbourhood of Langley Township. (Google Maps)

Potential future condition of 200 Street with a busway within the Latimer area:

Potential concept for bus-only lanes in a median busway on 200 Street in Langley Township’s Latimer neighbourhood. (Township of Langley)

Significant sections of 200 Street roadway within the area plan are currently up to six vehicle lanes wide (three lanes in each direction) with a landscaped median separating the traffic directions. Previous Township planning documents suggest bus-only lanes for both directions could be achieved on the curbside lanes or as a busway down the median, while maintaining four vehicle lanes (two lanes in each direction) for general traffic.

“An investment like BRT would be transformational for the Township. As a regular transit user myself, I can attest to the long way that public transportation has to go in Langley before it’s a really practical option for people to regularly use to get around,” Councillor Michael Pratt told Daily Hive Urbanized.

“Once people are able to access SkyTrain and the West Coast Express using BRT, that’s when we will begin to see some meaningful congestion relief for commuters on some of Langley’s busiest streets, but it will also be the greater access for residents to get around our municipality that will be really exciting. Having BRT in place will enable us to start connecting other parts of our Township to rapid transit. We’re doing our part to the homes people need, but we need the public transportation investments to makes sure people can get to where they need to go.”

The 200 Street 2040 draft area plan for Council’s consideration is expected to be produced by late 2023 or early 2024, which represents a highly expedited timeline considering the planning process was launched by Council in April 2023. In contrast, it took four years for the City of Vancouver to create and finalize its Broadway Plan.

“We have been moving forward with transit-oriented development for 200 Street, with 200 Street 2040, specifically, to review the long-term vision for the corridor, which helps protect our rural areas with development where it should go,” Mayor Eric Woodward told Daily Hive Urbanized.

“We need to see more investment from other levels of governments and agencies, especially when it comes to transit. The Langley Bus Rapid Transit line is one of the easiest corridors to implement, with so much right-of-way available, and has strong municipal support from us and Maple Ridge. TransLink has a willing partner for Bus Rapid Transit in the Township of Langley TransLink. With growth the obvious need, 200 Street is an obvious choice for the Mayors’ Council to confirm.”

translink transport 2050 10 year priorities project map

Projects under the 10-year priorities of TransLink’s Transport 2050 strategy. (TransLink)

Woodward adds that his jurisdiction is “long overdue” for a major public transit investment by TransLink.

According to Statistics Canada, Langley Township’s population has grown by more than 50% to 133,000 in 2021, including nearly 15,000 additional residents for the period between 2016 and 2021.

The regional district expects Langley Township’s population will see further rapid growth over the coming decades, reaching over 230,000 residents by 2050. The number of homes in the municipality will grow from 50,000 in 2020 to over 95,000 in 2050, while the number of jobs found within the jurisdiction will increase from 67,000 to 98,000 over the same period.

With 307 sq km of land area, just trailing behind Surrey’s geographical size, Langley Township is one of Metro Vancouver’s largest municipalities in terms of land area, but only about 20% of its territory is buildable as the vast majority of the area is the protected Agricultural Land Reserve.

Rapid transit on the 200 Street corridor would directly serve Langley Township’s largest single strip of developable land in the northwest quadrant of the city, with the municipality now promising to densify this specific area.

Brookswood-Fernridge Neighbourhood Plan area

Map showing the entire land area of the Township of Langley, with yellow and purple indicating buildable urban lands, green indicating rural (protected Agricultural Land Reserve) lands, and the lower white mass indicating the City of Surrey. (Township of Langley)

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