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

Miscreant said:
I just feasted on those shots for like 15 minutes. That was great. Thanks.

Here's a question: the Via Rail concourse--essentially in the middle of Union, lower level--it still looks like the 70s trying to be the 80s. Is this area and others still like it going to be completely refurbished to match the sterling white decor of the the York Concourse?

Because if not, Union will feel like a hodgepodge when walking through it. It'll be like one of those renos people do on their homes where they don't have enough money (or taste) to make the addition continuous with the rest of the house.
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I believe answer is no - it's "heritage".

AoD
 
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AlvinofDiaspar said:
I know it will complicate the fire control system horribly, but it would be nice if the doors can be kept open and commanded to shut automatically in the event of a fire alarm - it is THE major cause of slowdown at the current Bay concourse entrance from the subways.
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wopchop said:
What you describe is certainly possible, and there are buildings that do do this (although I can't seem to think of one), as automatically closing fire doors are allowed in the Fire Code.
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The doors in my YRDSB high school did this. It made fire drills and power failures that much more alarming with the doors suddenly closing.
 
I noticed yesterday that they are fixing/replacing a couple of cracked granite slabs on the main 'plaza" and seem to be getting ready to re-erect the (restored) clock. It's been gone for several years - in fact I can't remember when I last saw it. "Looking Good".
 
I walked past Union and Front st, and it looks quite nice.

While I was strolling, I kept thinking, why doesn't the city make Front st, from York to Yonge (or even Church), pedestrian only? The pavement is right, architecture beautiful, and it would be very pleasant for visitors and residents. Add more chairs and some water feature probably, and have some cafes and patio restaurants, it would do wonders for the area. At least during May-October.

Most large cities I have been to have such long and nice car free streets. We don't have any.
 
ksun said:
I walked past Union and Front st, and it looks quite nice.

While I was strolling, I kept thinking, why doesn't the city make Front st, from York to Yonge (or even Church), pedestrian only? The pavement is right, architecture beautiful, and it would be very pleasant for visitors and residents. Add more chairs and some water feature probably, and have some cafes and patio restaurants, it would do wonders for the area. At least during May-October.

Most large cities I have been to have such long and nice car free streets. We don't have any.
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I would imagine that would make it very difficult for the large hotel and the large train station to operate without any vehicle (eg taxi) access to their main doors....no?
 
I don't think we need to close it off completely - narrowing Front to two way between Bay and Yonge, landscaping and animating the south side would be sufficient I think.

AoD
 
Yeah, to echo a point above, I'm all for pedestrian only spaces in our city, but to create one in front of the country's busiest transit hub, the impending GO station, and the central business district is not a good idea, imo. Kensington? Quite possibly. But not here.
 
The roadway can also be designed in such a way (e.g. sockets for removal bollards) that it allows for closure on demand. Actually I thought Front between Scott and Jarvis would be a good place for that kind of arrangement.

AoD
 
AlvinofDiaspar said:
The roadway can also be designed in such a way (e.g. sockets for removal bollards) that it allows for closure on demand. Actually I thought Front between Scott and Jarvis would be a good place for that kind of arrangement.

AoD
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According to page 21 of the environmental assessment, removable bollards were selected for when front street is closed off for special events between York and the Royal York hotel driveway.

So, it looks like the city is planning to close it off, occasionally.
 
wopchop said:
What you describe is certainly possible, and there are buildings that do do this (although I can't seem to think of one), as automatically closing fire doors are allowed in the Fire Code.
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Several buildings in the PATH have these types of doors. They are not open every day (wind issues).

The mechanism for this is an electro-magnetic pad that keeps the door open. In the case of a fire alarm or a power outage the electromagnet turns itself off and the door automatically shuts.
 
aquateam said:
According to page 21 of the environmental assessment, removable bollards were selected for when front street is closed off for special events between York and the Royal York hotel driveway.

So, it looks like the city is planning to close it off, occasionally.
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Very interesting! The bollards that are all already set up along sidewalks, are all already removable, apparently (for events) -- but not across the intersection.

I wonder if they will add removable bollard sockets through the intersections. They haven't done the final paving at the intersections yet, so this may be something yet to come. They'd simply lift the pre-existing sidewalk bollards and then slip them into the intersection bollard sockets. Voila. Pedestrian event mode.

It could be mighty fine and lovely during a major special weekend event, when we don't need to route peak-period taxi traffic on Front. Especially in the 15-minute RER train era. During current construction, there isn't much weekend car traffic on Front street during many parts of the day, so obviously, cars have been bypassing Union for quite some time now. Once construction barriers disappear, there will be more (temporarily activatable) taxistand space on Bay and York, to deal with the TTC and UPX crowd. They just need to do proper signage during these times, and keep Bay/York open at all times as bypasses.

With the trees, the re-erected clock, and no sidewalk bollards, some nice temporary artsy lighting, during, say, a major PanAm opening ceremony event, or as a staging area for arriving revellers kicking off expanded Canada Day celebrations, weekend Stanley Cup Playoff celebration (if Leafs get that far eventually), etc. Great locale for a flagship Nuit Blanche thingy too (paint the Union Station electronically with projectors?), as that's an overnight weekend event. Just not at peak weekday traffic.
 
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