Busy Toronto street kicks off major makeover set to wrap in 2025

Another round of construction just kicked off at Toronto’s perpetually under-construction Union Station.

The City of Toronto declared the long-term revitalization of Union Station complete back in 2021, but you wouldn’t know it from a visit to the grand railway station in 2024, where a large-scale project is underway to improve GO service, and yet another new project just commenced outside of the station.

Work is now underway to improve safety on the Front Street sidewalks fronting the busy transit hub.

The project kicked off on Tuesday, November 26, and is set to include the removal of unsightly concrete blocks that were deployed outside of the station in the wake of the 2018 Toronto van attack that killed 11 and injured 15 others, in an effort to deter similar vehicle ramming attacks on the busy pedestrian thoroughfare.

Starting tomorrow, the sidewalk on Front St. in front of Union Station will undergo construction to improve pedestrian safety. As a result, the taxi stand in front of the station will be temporarily relocated closer to Bay St.

The work is set to conclude in spring 2025. pic.twitter.com/bD56oCsGeK

— City of Toronto (@cityoftoronto) November 25, 2024

A $2.7 million contract was awarded to South Central Inc. on November 6 for the “Front St. partial sidewalk waterproofing and procurement & installation of custom anti-terror concrete barriers.”

These custom bollards would serve the same purpose as the current concrete blocks, with the added aesthetic bonus of, well, not being giant concrete blocks.

Replacement of the blocks with a more permanent solution was scheduled to take place before the pandemic, but five years later, the only improvement to date has been the addition of some colourful paint jobs.

Union Station’s ugly concrete barriers were to be replaced in 2019. Why are they still there?

byu/6ixtdot416 intoronto

While the concept of even more construction at Union Station may have some commuters groaning, the City said in a statement shared to X and Facebook that “the work will have no impact on the roads around the area.”

Taxi passengers will have to navigate to a new position on Bay Street to get a cab during construction, but otherwise, no major impacts are expected between the start of the project on Tuesday and its estimated completion in spring 2025.

Union Station will join other prominent landmarks with anti-terror bollards, a commonly-used security measure used to keep buildings like the U.S. Consulate General Toronto safe from vehicular threats.

The 2012-completed revitalization of First Canadian Place (Canada’s tallest building as of late 2024) included the addition of anti-terror bollards along its King Street, Bay Street and Adelaide Street West frontages.