Not really, like renovating a house, the things that take longest are the hidden stuff like pipes, wires and foundations. This area has got its final flooring and the pillars will be covered over pretty fast. They had finished most of the ceilings before they closed off the 'leather shop by-pass' so I think it is not necessarily going to take TOO much longer to be able to open a walkway through this area to/from TTC via the east Front moat. I guess we will just have to wait and see!
From what I can see in the above photo, and from what we could see while the leather shop bypass was still open, the cladding on the pillars is already installed (quite some time ago). That's why some of them are covered in wood for protection.
No but the areas they are opening are completely finished. The moat was not open until it was finished nor was the York Concourse. Also keep in mind that the parts of the station under construction were surrounded by hoarding to prevent access.
There are many areas that were unfinished and open to the public. The moat has been partially opened many times. Heck it's still not finished, there are still temporary steel grates and banisters installed. Temporary lighting and electrical hanging.
The old leather shop bypass was the epitome of unfinished. If I stood on my tippy toes my head would hit all the unprotected electrical and HVAC. Not to mention all the temporary wood flooring and sketchy temporary stairs.
The Bay West teamway... there's netting above to protect pedestrians from falling concrete; tarps, fences and hoarding. Most of the stairwells are unfinished with temporary hoarding and lighting.
The Bay East teamway has a ditch dug out and covered in sketchy temporary wood boards right now.
...Honestly, aside from the York Concourse, the rest of Union is unfinished. I don't see why the Bay Concourse would be treated any differently than the rest.