[wmedia]

Piece in The Star today:

‘As ugly as ugly can be’: Why are there still temporary barriers around Union Station four years later?

Installed after the Yonge Street van attack to protect pedestrians, the Jersey barriers were supposed to be replaced after a year.

www.thestar.com

 

[mildlyamusingusername]

Piece in The Star today:

‘As ugly as ugly can be’: Why are there still temporary barriers around Union Station four years later?

Installed after the Yonge Street van attack to protect pedestrians, the Jersey barriers were supposed to be replaced after a year.

www.thestar.com

I respect what the star is doing here on this series of articles, but I wish this pressure regarding the state of the City had come throughout Tory's term instead of just before an election. The fact is, people are frustrated with the John Tory era of a decaying status-quo, and I feel the media pressure really hasn't been as present as it was in the Ford or even Miller days.

 

[DSC]

I respect what the star is doing here on this series of articles, but I wish this pressure regarding the state of the City had come throughout Tory's term instead of just before an election. The fact is, people are frustrated with the John Tory era of a decaying status-quo, and I feel the media pressure really hasn't been as present as it was in the Ford or even Miller days.

I think most people cut Tory (and others) lots of slack during covid and the City were hit hard by it while having to do lots of new things like massive immunization clinics BUT we are told 'covid's over' (ha!) so that excuse is no longer valid.

 

[Willybru21]

 

[DatTranzitGuy]

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When the bay concourse opened last year they said this area would arrive in 2022 so I guess they stuck with that successfully

 

[Willybru21]

When the bay concourse opened last year they said this area would arrive in 2022 so I guess they stuck with that successfully

They did. I think this corridor was the most interesting part of the revitalisation just because how much of a roller coaster its development was.

 

[Willybru21]

 

[DatTranzitGuy]

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This space is fascinating because it didn’t exist in any way, shape or form before the revitalization even began. Heck the York concourse even existed as the car rental area beforehand

 

[trtcttc]

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Are these the new stairs they built in the last week that required closing a few doors on the South side of VIA? That came together surprisingly quick.

 

[Willybru21]

Are these the new stairs they built in the last week that required closing a few doors on the South side of VIA? That came together surprisingly quick.

No that’s the other way, the stairs you see there go up to the Front Street Promenade, the area with the badly patched ceiling.

 

[Willybru21]

As far as I know the stairs that lead up to the Telus Ramp and required the VIA concourse to close were half done in 2018, so the other half shouldn’t take too long.

 

[Willybru21]

Is it confirmed that the Telus Ramp is closing after the staircase down to the Market opens up? I’m pretty sure it’s been talked about here before.

 

[lead82]

Does anyone know why the covered moat is closed west of the subway? It was opened after it was first covered but it has stayed closed since COVID?

Also is it just me or does the moat area just outside the subway entrance smells of heavy urine. Then you go into Union terminal and it changes to cosmetics from Sephora. Quite the radical difference. I wish we can keep new infrastructure cleaned at least. Union subway and this moat area is gross and very dirty.

 

[Willybru21]

Does anyone know why the covered moat is closed west of the subway? It was opened after it was first covered but it has stayed closed since COVID?

Also is it just me or does the moat area just outside the subway entrance smells of heavy urine. Then you go into Union terminal and it changes to cosmetics from Sephora. Quite the radical difference. I wish we can keep new infrastructure cleaned at least. Union subway and this moat area is gross and very dirty.

I know the carriageway still needs the planned public art that European artists wanted to install, but apparently they’re “stuck in Europe” still, and the other moat doesn’t really serve a purpose without it. They also need to add the small shops in the other moat.

Yes it really does smell like urine, but it makes sense since homeless people campout on the balcony or the stairs up to the closed carriageway due to nobody walking that direction. I know they don’t have anywhere to go, but the countries busiest transit hub isn’t the spot. Though; I don’t want to dive into that subject too much since this isn’t the place for such a conversation.

Here’s the artwork they want to install:

 

[EnviroTO]

The diagrams that I have seen suggest that in the hallway at the VIA Concourse level (i.e. floor -1), will be able to look down to the walkway to Telus running from the market area (i.e. level -2) and the ramp will go up to Jurassic Park / Telus. The side ramps from the hallway behind the VIA Concourse that connects to Bay and York Concourse of GO will still branch off and intersect this hallway but one would assume they will become steeper ramps downward.