Willybru21 said:
Now that the jersey barriers are gone the blocks are starting to grow on me, it’s definitely an improvement:
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They look like they can stop a tank, so I guess that's something...

...but still they look like they can only be appreciated if one has hard techno pumping over their ear buds.
 
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DSCToronto said:
You can't have huge concrete blocks everywhere and I am not sure that if we need them that in front of Union is the first place I would select to put them. In Vancouver, the problem was on a street that had been temporarily closed for a street party and the barriers were being removed.
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Not sure what you're going on about here. He simply made a point that it's sad these things even have to exist.
 
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nightstreak said:
Bollards apparently won't work on the Union Station forecourt because the sidewalk is very shallow with the subway station directly underneath.
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UrbanAffair said:
Yup, same exact issue at Hauptbahnhof in Zurich, just replace subways with infrastructure in their case.
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I want to note first, that I previously posted a variety of alternative designs, while also taking the view that this was not a necessary investment for the reason pointed out by @DSCToronto that one can have a mass casualty event, on purpose, or by accident in any place with moderately busy sidewalks, and that our own incident in Toronto was on Yonge St. in North York where we are not contemplating putting in such barriers.

I'm not going to look up my previous post on this except to say, there were certainly a plethora of better options available.

Second....I don't want to get into the weeds on how barriers are designed/anchored, most people will just roll their eyes at the details......

But ...there are ways to laterally anchor. You have to go in the ground at least a little. But not very far, you can use L-shaped rebar.

I don't expect the average person to be aware of some of those options, but I raise it simply to say, we could have done better here in that way, and many others (stone-cladding, use of plants etc). Put simply this is just junk.

How it has the price tag it does is beyond me.......and I know a little something about this.......just sayin.
 
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Northern Light said:
I want to note first, that I previously posted a variety of alternative designs, while also taking the view that this was not a necessary investment for the reason pointed out by @DSCToronto that one can have a mass casualty event, on purpose, or by accident in any place with moderately busy sidewalks, and that our own incident in Toronto was on Yonge St. in North York where we are not contemplating putting in such barriers.
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As far as I know, nobody ever did any sort of analysis of what are the sidewalks and events that generate the densest crowds of vulnerable pedestrians. The union station plaza is certainly busy year round, but so are other places. But the jersey barriers were plunked down there after the Yonge St attack, and then it was just assumed they'd be eventually replaced with something. I have never seen any explanation of why there and why not elsewhere. They do now use trucks to block vehicle access to some street events, but I'm not even sure how systematic their approach to that is.
 
nightstreak said:
The west moat would make a decent produce market. The glass ceiling with natural light would be a pleasant space to pick up some fresh groceries on the way home.

ttc_changes_014.jpg

Metrolinx, Not a recent photo

Or are they planning to introduce other retail here? It's been closed ever since they completed renovating it. They won't even use it as an area to pass through from York and Front, it's just locked.
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It also just occurred to me, wouldn't the west moat be aligned with the west end of the subway platform? Could this not become a second concourse for Line 1, providing a more direct connection to the York Concourse? The fare gates near Bay have proven too few and in too small an area during rush hour for such a busy station. It gets very crowded and backed up. Having another concourse and fare gates near York would break up that crowd.

Or is the subway turning up University at this point? This cross section doesn't provide enough clarity:

Union Cross IMG_5862 2.JPG


Does anyone have a drawing of the downtown U overlaid on the street grid please?
 
^...goodness, they're planning to redo all that then? Looks like it will come with a Boston Dig sized budget to boot. >.<
 
Courtney Heels from CP24 was outside Union Station this morning. I thought she wanted to talk about the concrete barriers but I guess there was a more important news story this morning. Silly me.

Skate boarders.
IMG_9621.jpeg

I wonder if they can jump the 1m gap to the next block? Maybe just once.
 
mburrrrr said:
Courtney Heels from CP24 was outside Union Station this morning. I thought she wanted to talk about the concrete barriers but I guess there was a more important news story this morning. Silly me.

Skate boarders.
View attachment 647223
I wonder if they can jump the 1m gap to the next block? Maybe just once.
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When I first saw these, I thought where are the Skatestoppers...

Then I thought someone at the Toronto Skateboarding Committee might have had some influence...

Sounds ripe for Ryan Urie-Buxton though!

This shortsightedness seems intentional.

LOL!!!
 
Just did the experience, more of the same as years past.

I asked about an updated estimated completion date since there's no way this project is finishing in the next year, and they said 2029 is the anticipated finish for the entire project.

I assume there's going to be phased openings, the west side looks much further along than the east side.
 
Willybru21 said:
Just did the experience, more of the same as years past.

I asked about an updated estimated completion date since there's no way this project is finishing in the next year, and they said 2029 is the anticipated finish for the entire project.

I assume there's going to be phased openings, the west side looks much further along than the east side.
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2029 sounds like GO expansion. There's no way just the south part takes that long.
Remember they are working together with Onxpress with the north part
 
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