Toronto Union Station Revitalization | ?m | ?s | City of Toronto | NORR

[nightstreak]

Small detail, I know. But did the crew working on the bollards take a chunk out of the new concrete block, as seen in @Milaisacat photo above?

If so, I hope it gets fixed.

No, that's just a shadow. The block is definitely too close to the bollard and would have been better as bollards instead. In fact, none of the concrete blocks make any sense now that they've demonstrated they can install bollards on the shallowest parts of the sidewalk.

 

[Milaisacat]

Now that they have opened the east side of the bollards (adjacent to the Union Station sign), I expect that they will now block off the west side and complete the installation of the bollards to the retaining wall. They couldn't have blocked off everything to do it all at once (though with the snow storage at the corner, it has functionally been single-file for a bit).

 

[Milaisacat]

The Heritage Toronto Wooden Pole™

 

[Dan416]

People will cut down those speed cameras multiple times, but they won't cut down this pole even once?

 

[Mihairokov]

People will cut down those speed cameras multiple times, but they won't cut down this pole even once?

The pole isn't costing motorists money.

 

[Fritter]

View attachment 715055

Thank you @Milaisacat , you sir are a much better creator than I! This was just what I was thinking.

 

[daptive]

Now that they have opened the east side of the bollards (adjacent to the Union Station sign), I expect that they will now block off the west side and complete the installation of the bollards to the retaining wall. They couldn't have blocked off everything to do it all at once (though with the snow storage at the corner, it has functionally been single-file for a bit).

View attachment 715053

I just noticed... what is going on with the U in the Union Station sign?

 

[nightstreak]

I think our long national nightmare of ugly concrete blocks may be coming to an end.

Not so fast. The jersey barriers are like a clingy ex girlfriend. Even though the bollards have been installed in this section for months, the jersey barriers are still there.

How long does it take to call up a truck to come pick these up? They installed them the same day of the van attack so clearly they got a guy on speed dial.

 

[nightstreak]

Now that they have opened the east side of the bollards (adjacent to the Union Station sign), I expect that they will now block off the west side and complete the installation of the bollards to the retaining wall. They couldn't have blocked off everything to do it all at once (though with the snow storage at the corner, it has functionally been single-file for a bit).

View attachment 715053

This is wishful thinking and I'm sorry to say that you're going to be left wishing. The concrete blocks aren't temporary measures. The paving was cut to lower them into the ground about 2 inches so they can't be moved by a speeding vehicle. They were commissioned by the city and awarded to a UK company who shipped them across the ocean and installed them. They're there to stay.

No pictures today but the plaza is on the verge of being completed. The York corner is fence and jersey barrier free (though not pole free) and the Bay corner has the bollards installed, just missing their silver sleeves.

The remaining fencing on the western side is where waterproofing was being redone to enable retail spaces below it in the western moat. That work is now done and the paving has been completed. I could see that there are spaces for concrete blocks in this section.

As mentioned in the previous post, there are still orphaned jersey barriers scattered around the plaza for no reason. But it's reasonable to say that by Spring, we should have a finished looking plaza for the first time in nearly a decade. Finally.

 

[mburrrrr]

Sat Feb 14
Will the ceiling in the PATH entering the subway from Brookfield Place still leak? That was the big reason for delaying this project, right?

 

[DSCToronto]

Sat Feb 14
Will the ceiling in the PATH entering the subway from Brookfield Place still leak? That was the big reason for delaying this project, right?
View attachment 715835

I think the leaky ceiling was under the roadway (at the intersection of Bay/Front) not the sidewalk and appears to have been better (or less leaky) recently.

 

[nightstreak]

Sat Feb 14
Will the ceiling in the PATH entering the subway from Brookfield Place still leak? That was the big reason for delaying this project, right?
View attachment 715835

The leaky ceilings from the sidewalk was one of the reasons for a prolonged process, it turns out. The entire plaza was waterproofed before the blocks and bollards were introduced.

Views from the other side at York:

And with the snow thawing out, it turns out the jersey barriers never left.

And here's a preview of what a civilization a million years from now will see as the ice age circa the XXI century permafrost melts and they discovery these hieroglyphic "Welcome Barriers" from a once vibrant city.

 

[mburrrrr]

The entire plaza was waterproofed before the blocks and bollards were introduced.

Really? How? Where? Do you mean where the new bollards and new blocks were installed?
Or waterproofing was completed somewhere else? ie: could the new blocks and new bollards have been installed ~8 years ago without the waterproofing excuse?

 

[DSCToronto]

Really? How? Where? Do you mean where the new bollards and new blocks were installed?
Or waterproofing was completed somewhere else? ie: could the new blocks and new bollards have been installed ~8 years ago without the waterproofing excuse?

I think he (she?) may mean that part of this project was to fix the waterproofing above the 'alcoves' in the north side of the western part of the Front Street Promenade (below the Front St south sidewalk) - which has not been open properly since covid (and where they had the skating. AFIK, the section at the corner of York & Front (where that damned pole is) is NOT over a tunnel or a room so waterproofing is unnecessary. The area hidden by the white curtains below:

 

[nightstreak]

I think he (she?) may mean that part of this project was to fix the waterproofing above the 'alcoves' in the north side of the western part of the Front Street Promenade (below the Front St south sidewalk) - which has not been open properly since covid (and where they had the skating. AFIK, the section at the corner of York & Front (where that damned pole is) is NOT over a tunnel or a room so waterproofing is unnecessary. The area hidden by the white curtains below:

View attachment 715980

Yes, that's what I was referring to. They did the west sidewalk in sections, first the south side of the sidewalk, then the north and now are wrapping up a small portion of that north sidewalk. In a rare case of foresight, the city waited on adding the bollards and blocks until the entire plaza was ready instead of tearing up recently done work soon after. I went through the RFPs and the waterproofing came first.

As an aside, the water you (used to) see in the PATH and the streetcar platform/loop ceiling was from the exhaust that used to be a grate on the floor and was recently built as a chimney and can be seen in @mburrrrr's photo.

New:

Construction and previous grate:

Leaks should be contained now and the western moat can begin a process of leasing the alcoves for retail and hopefully opening the moat for pedestrian circulation.

In the future, I think that one or more of these alcoves could become an alternate entrance into the subway whose current concourse is far too small for being one of the busiest interchanges on the network. There's just this constant backup of people getting through the gates from Union Station bumping into those exiting. Those coming from the York concourse to the subway would go directly here instead of making their way to the Bay concourse first.

Note: there is no concourse behind those alcoves, one would have to be build under the road to connect to the existing concourse. @WB62 if you could kindly share your map showing the concourse level directly under the road, it would be easier to picture how it could be expanded west to align with the western moat.