City
City of Toronto closes in on new look for Front Street
As far as Toronto welcomes go, the exit to Front Street from Union Station could be a lot worse. It certainly beats the anonymous landscape around Pearson and the claustrophobic driving experience one is treated to coming down the Don Valley Parkway but, as far as the City is concerned, we could still do much better.
Capitalizing on the major TTC and Metrolinx renovations taking place under Union Station, the city is planning to completely re-work the stretch of Front Street between York and Bay streets, adding improved taxi and pedestrian facilities as well as better connections to the surrounding streets.
The project itself isn't new (it's actually been in the works for several years) but specific details are only now starting to be fixed in place. Though there's plenty still to be finalized, it's worth taking a look at what we're likely to get in the coming months.
As one exits Union Station's ticket hall, a wider sidewalk area, possibly with cafe seating, will be the most noticeable change. On the road itself, the city envisions a raised "table top" area constructed using interlocking stones for easier vehicle connections. Presently, the crush of taxis in rush hour is brutal.
Under the street, a new PATH extension will connect Union with a portal on the northwest corner of York and Front. A second tunnel, to be constructed later, will stretch under York to Wellington Street.
For cyclists, the city is against installing a separated lane through the table-top area, fearing bikers could be encouraged to ride too fast in the pedestrian-friendly space. A dedicated lane would also take up valuable sidewalk space.
According to the minutes of the city's Design Review Panel, a group of experts that critique new developments in the city, the plaza outside Union needs to be "a vibrant, memorable public space of the highest quality." In their September meeting, the most recently available, the panel called for more trees and public art installations on the block.
They also asked for rolling curbs like those on the Sherbourne bike lane to be used on the new median to improve access for wheelchair and vision impaired users. The relatively small size of the taxi area was also revealed as a concern.
What do you think of these changes — do we have the potential for a winning public space on our hands? What, if anything, would you like to see added to the street? More details on the project are available in this public document [PDF].
Images: City of Toronto
Discussion
53 Comments
Sort By Oldest First / Newest First
Subscribe
http://www.andyross.net/hitlist.htm
Back to the last photo... where are the hot dog vendors???
What I don't understand is why this redesign appears to make no provision for surface transit, since Union is a major GO/TTC commuter hub. Some thought should have gone into that instead of drawing ornate balalaikas.
The rest of that corner looks OK. Maybe they can raise the concrete around the PATH exits so if a vehicle hits it wont completely shatter the glass. They can also opt out of elevator installation to maintenance cost down [there are multiple wheelchair access points from the surrounding buildings].
They really need to do something about the panhandlers around Union station. They are regular fixtures now, one or two camp out on the island between University and Front on a red milk crate and another outside the Tim Horton's.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balalaika
This new design sucks even more what's there now, and fails GO Transit's "intermodal hub" guidelines.
Perhaps I would be more sympathetic if I met a cyclist who followed the rules of the road instead of nearly impaling pedestrians at every crossing. Or one who is nice.
I'm a nice cyclist who follows the rules and doesn't use a bike for errands that would be easier on foot, unless there's something to be carried that can't go in a pannier bag.
You don't have to look while cyclists lock and unlock, you know. I don't know of anyone who tries to do so with 'grocery-laden arms' - the whole point of doing errands on a bike is to use fewer bags, especially if the load would hurt your arms and hands after a while.
Widened sidewalks? Because we don't already have acres of wide and largely unused sidewalks throughout downtown?
I don't particularly want bike lanes on Front, because it's probably going to be as much of a mess as always, with too many cabbies hanging around as always and apparently no thought given to surface transit.
As for crossings, it would be nice if there was one place where pedestrians didn't veer off the crossing area, slip behind cars, jaywalk diagonally so traffic coming at them becomes more invisible to them as they approach the other side or otherwise randomly step into the road.
Everyone asking why there isn't more consideration given to [blank] needs to remember that this is only a small part of the huge picture.
To everyone complaining about the loss of traffic lanes, the point of the project is to give more space to pedestrians, which outnumber cars 10 to 1 during rush hour around Union Station. They need all the space they can get, and the street is already at 2 lanes with the subway construction, so it's not like it'll be worse than how it is right now. In fact, it'll be better, since cars won't have to slalom around the construction barriers.
And about surface transit, the objective is not to put it on Front Street; there is a plan to build a new consolidated GO and Greyhound Terminal on the south side of the station at Bay Street (in that big empty parking lot) and integrate it into the station directly. A sheltered, well-organised terminal beats a 24/7 wall of buses on Front Street any day.
To everyone complaining about the surface finishes or the landscaping, it's a simplified artist's rendering! The final thing will look different (i.e. not so much beige, not replacing flowerbeds with grass); it's simply to give a general idea, and the colour is because the rendering was set in the late afternoon.
Lastly, to whomever did the rendering of the balalaika woman, sheer genius. Hats off to you!