City of Toronto begins sidewalk, utility and security upgrades outside Union Station

After years of delays, City of Toronto officials say construction on replacing the security barrier and other improvements to the pedestrian space in front of Union Station has begun, but approximately $12 million more will be needed to finish everything envisioned.

In a brief message posted on the City of Toronto’s Facebook and X accounts Monday afternoon, officials announced the Front Street West sidewalk outside Union Station would be blocked off for construction.

“I think the desire to improve the public realm is held by a lot of people: the public, the city, everybody,” Scott Barrett, the City of Toronto’s director of property management, told CityNews in an interview on Wednesday.

“The barriers have been there for a while. They’ve lived their life for this building. It’s time to get the rest of the project moving and make sure that we have a comprehensive, long-term solution.”

Barrett said the project will be carried out in three phases. He said the first one involves water-proofing “to make sure that the work that’s happening in the street doesn’t negatively impact the station.”

The second phase involves the installation of “anti-terror concrete blocks.”

“The blocks are crash-rated. They’re meant to withstand an impact and so the term ‘anti-terror’ is what’s used, but we’re looking at it from a pedestrian safety point of view and from a station amenity point of view,” Barrett said.

“They’re decorated like benches and they’ll be coming in in some of the other areas to make sure that there’s enough protection.”

CityNews asked for a rendering of the final design in front of the station, but one wasn’t provided. However, a sample image of the blocks shared showed larger, rectangular pieces of smooth concrete similar to the ones seen at the edges of parking lots.

Earlier in November, a City of Toronto bid award panel signed off on awarding a $2.4-million contract for both phases. The work is scheduled to be done in spring 2025.

The third phase of the project, described as being “highly complex,” calls for bollards to be installed all along Front Street West in front of Union Station and at parts of York and Bay streets.

“They’re very carefully engineered to be able to fit within this environment — very shallow-mounting with a good resistance to impact,” Barrett said.

“We have a specially engineered system that is a shallow-mount system that distributes the impact and load over a larger area to make up the difference there.”

Adding new electrical connections and addressing drainage issues is also part of the phase.

A City of Toronto spokesperson said a $12-million request for the third phase is being made as part of the upcoming 2025 budget submission to Toronto city council. If approved, officials said it should be done by the end of 2025.

“It’s critical infrastructure. We have to keep it running and keep it safe for users. That’s really, really important for us,” Barrett said.

“All of these things that are coming to be installed will have a crash-resistance, so that if there’s an accident or something worse people within the barrier of Union Station will still be safe.”

As part of the work, officials said the taxi stand outside Union Station located east of York Street will be temporarily moved closer to Bay Street but vehicular traffic lanes will be maintained.

There have been multiple delays on the security barrier project in front of Union Station even though a formal end to major restoration and expansion work at Union Station was declared in 2021. It cost nearly $825 million and took 11 years.

In June 2022, CityNews was told by City of Toronto officials the barrier project was being delayed until 2023 due to increased costs and a need for significant and careful waterproofing.

Graham Leah with the City of Toronto told CityNews in November 2023 that COVID-19 affected the project. He said heritage and accessibility considerations, an assessment of various underground utilities and TTC subway infrastructure impacts forced a rethink too.

“The final design contemplates a mix of custom-design, cement barriers as well as steel bollards, which suit the purpose of what the security needs are there,” Leah said at the time.

“The rest of it is really just working to figure out how to do the implementation of things (and) making sure that it fits with the characteristic of Union Station. It’s a very dynamic place for a quarter of a million people to come through on a daily basis.”

After the Yonge Street van attack in 2018, municipal crews moved quickly to boost security around Union Station. That safety push saw dozens of concrete barriers installed on Front Street West in a bid to add protection to Canada’s busiest rail hub.

However, as the years passed many of the concrete barriers appeared to degrade. When CityNews visited in 2023, some barriers were stuffed with trash while others had graffiti and hand-written directions to the bike share station. However, the same barriers were painted with vibrant colours sometime after.