The machine tasked with boring the tunnel that will connect the Evergreen Line between Port Moody and Coquitlam is expected to commence operating this week.
It is customary in the tunnel boring industry to name the machines and the one operating in Port Moody has been christened Alice, named after Canada's first female geologist.
Alice will bore a two-kilometre tunnel starting east of the Barnet Highway in Port Moody and emerging south of Kemsley Avenue in Coquitlam
Residents who live above the work will not be disrupted, said Transportation Minister Todd Stone during a press conference on Friday.
When the Evergreen Line opens in 2016, it will connect the Tri-Cities with the rest of the SkyTrain system. According to provincial government estimates, it will carry 70,000 passengers and remove 40,000 vehicles from the road every day.
