NYC to Install Hundreds of Security Barriers to Protect Pedestrians

Hundreds of new protective barriers will be permanently installed in Times Square and other locations around New York in an effort to block vehicles from hitting pedestrians after deadly attacks last year on crowds.

The city is spending $50 million on protective measures including the installation of 1,500 metal barriers, or bollards, in key locations around the city, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Tuesday, at a press conference attended by Police Commissioner James O’Neill and other officials.

Times Square is crowded most days with tourists, costumed characters, sightseeing bus hawkers and office workers. In May, a man drove through crowds for more than three blocks, killing an 18-year-old tourist from Michigan. The vehicle was eventually stopped by one of the squat metal barriers.

Temporary concrete blocks were put up along the Seventh Avenue sidewalk while city officials weighed a long-term solution and considered banning vehicle traffic from the area all together.

Then, on Oct. 30, an Islamic State-inspired attacker drove down a busy bicycle path near the World Trade Center, authorities said. He killed eight people before he wrecked his rented truck and was shot by police.

Barriers were also placed there to keep cars out of the bike path.

“In 2017, New Yorkers witnessed the horrible capacity of people willing to do us harm, whether it was in our subways, on our bike paths or in Times Square,” the Democratic mayor said. “We know we have to do even more to keep people safe and that’s why we conducted a review on how best to secure our streets and public spaces, and we formulated a plan of action.”

“People have to be able to get around but they have to be safe at the same time,” de Blasio said.

The rollout will begin in March. Meanwhile, the temporary blocks already set up will remain in place.

O’Neill said the additional bollards “will allow New Yorkers and visitors to be more secure at landmark locations and other sites” in the city, and will “serve to delineate restricted areas and help streamline vehicle, bicycle and pedestrian traffic in these areas.”

City officials didn’t specify what other locations will be fortified, beyond the bike path and Times Square, but said there would be barriers set up in all five boroughs.