--- title: "New Holdom Avenue overpass in Burnaby's Brentwood area set to open in Spring 2027" description: "A new four-lane overpass crossing the railway tracks at Brentwood's eastern edge will open to traffic in Spring 2027, closing the nearby Douglas Road level crossing and redesignating truck routes through the area." canonical_url: "https://voche.me/bc/burnaby-2026/news/holdom-avenue-overpass-burnaby-spring-2027" last_updated: "2026-11-04T15:49:26.060Z" --- A new four-lane overpass over the CN rail corridor in Burnaby's Brentwood district will open to vehicle traffic in Spring 2027, the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority told Daily Hive on November 2, 2026. Full construction will finish in Fall 2027. When the overpass opens, the Douglas Road level crossing will close to all vehicles and pedestrians. The overpass extends Holdom Avenue south across the railway tracks and Still Creek to connect with Douglas Road, at the eastern end of the Brentwood neighbourhood. Construction started in December 2024, the port authority said it was more than halfway complete in August 2026, and the opening to traffic is now set for Spring 2027. The City of Burnaby will own and maintain the overpass once the work is done. ## What the overpass changes The Douglas Road crossing today is a level crossing: vehicles wait for trains to pass. Daily Hive reported that freight trains on this corridor have grown in length over recent decades. The overpass gives drivers a crossing that never waits for a train. The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority said the project is expected to reduce congestion and idling, make travel times through the area more predictable, and allow emergency vehicles through without delay. There will also be intersection changes at the overpass ends, and Daily Hive reported that Goring Street will extend to Kingsland Drive as part of the same construction. ## Truck routes will shift The overpass also means a formal change to how trucks move through that part of Burnaby. In June 2026, TransLink's board of directors approved removing the formal truck route designation from Douglas Road between Norland Avenue and Lougheed Highway. That decision is conditional: the removal only takes effect once the Holdom Avenue corridor is formally designated as a truck route, which happens when the overpass is complete. That means trucks that now travel Douglas Road across the tracks will switch to Holdom Avenue once the overpass opens in Spring 2027. ## The rail freight connection The overpass sits next to the southern entrance of the Thornton Tunnel, a three-kilometre tunnel under Burnaby. The tunnel's northern end connects to the Second Narrows Rail Bridge, which Daily Hive described as the only rail connection for transporting goods to and from the port terminals on the North Shore of Burrard Inlet. The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority said the railway corridor between the North Shore and Brentwood carries over 40 million metric tonnes of export cargo, which it said accounted for over 40 per cent of the port's total international exports in 2023. The port authority said the overpass is expected to increase trade capacity by about 15 per cent at its North Shore terminals. The CN railway completed its own work in the same corridor in 2022, including improvements to the Thornton Tunnel's ventilation and an additional track between Willingdon Avenue and Piper Avenue. That rail work and the overpass are separate projects under the broader Burnaby Rail Corridor Improvements Project. ## Who built it and who will own it The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority spearheaded the project and is overseeing construction. The builder is Aecon-Gateway Infrastructure Group Partnership. Daily Hive reported the total cost at about $200 million, funded jointly by the federal government, the port authority and CN. Daily Hive did not give the breakdown of each party's share. Once construction is complete, the City of Burnaby will own and maintain the overpass. The project recently received Envision Platinum, the highest sustainability rating from the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure. Daily Hive reported that measures behind the rating include replacing invasive plants with native vegetation, creating roosting structures for bats, protecting waterways, and improving walking and cycling connections. The construction team has also aimed to keep waste out of landfills: Aecon told Daily Hive that about 84 per cent of the project's construction waste has been diverted. ## What comes next and what residents can do The city's new council holds its inaugural meeting on November 10, 2026, at Burnaby City Hall. No council vote on this overpass is pending: the design and funding were already in place before the election. The Council that takes office on November 10 will oversee the period when the overpass opens and when the City assumes ownership of the structure. Residents who drive through the Brentwood area or use Douglas Road across the tracks can expect the crossing to close when the overpass opens in Spring 2027. TransLink will update the truck route designation at that time. The full construction finish, including final landscaping and connections, is scheduled for Fall 2027. New public spaces with First Nations art will also be part of the finished project, the port authority said through Daily Hive. Those spaces are part of the Fall 2027 completion, not the Spring 2027 vehicle opening. Updates on construction progress appear on the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority's website at portvancouver.com. ## Sitemap See the full [sitemap](/bc/burnaby-2026/sitemap.md) for all pages.