location for a new high-tech development and was close to the head office of QLT Inc., but additional development was slow to materialize. That station, VCC–Clark near Clark Drive and Broadway, did not open until 2006 because of difficulty in negotiating the right-of-way from BNSF Railway, but it was still short of the original proposed Phase II terminus at Granville Street. By 1998, plans for a line to Richmond resurfaced, including a spur to the Vancouver International Airport, in part to strengthen Vancouver's planned bid for the 2010 Winter Olympics. Equal shares of funding were obtained from the federal and provincial governments, as well as the airport authority. The Richmond line contradicted TransLink's stated priority of building Phase II of the Millennium Line to Coquitlam, and TransLink's board twice rejected using the offered funding to build the line to Richmond, then narrowly approved it in a third vote in 2004. The new line was named the Canada Line to acknowledge the federal government's contribution. Canada Line The Canada Line was built as a public–private partnership, with the winning bidder, led by SNC-Lavalin (now known as ProTransBC), contributing funds toward its construction and operating it for 35 years. TransLink guaranteed ProTransBC a minimum ridership. The Canada Line opened on August 17, 2009, 15 weeks ahead of schedule and on budget. Ridership rose three years ahead of forecasts, hitting 100,000 passengers per weekday in May 2010 and 110,000 passengers per weekday in February 2011. The Canada Line is operationally independent from the Expo and Millennium Lines and uses rolling stock that is incompatible with the other lines, but it is still considered to be part of the SkyTrain network. Evergreen Extension The Evergreen Extension (previously known as the Evergreen Line and, prior to that, part of the Millennium Line Phase II project) is a extension of the Millennium Line. It extended the SkyTrain network from Lougheed Town Centre in Burnaby to Lafarge Lake–Douglas in Coquitlam, with the addition of six new stations and major upgrades to two existing stations (Commercial–Broadway station and Lougheed Town Centre). It opened on December 2, 2016. Broadway Extension The Broadway Extension will extend the Millennium Line west from VCC–Clark station to a new terminus, Arbutus station. The $2.83-billion extension will be long, mainly underground, and feature five new stations. Major construction began in May 2021. It is expected to open in 2026. Timeline of SkyTrain construction Impact