December 22nd - December 28th, 2006

New Vehicle Barriers in Place, Planned for Lower Manhattan

Thursday, December 28^th: Innovative solutions to provide vehicle-barrier security measures on downtown streets without detracting from public space are already a reality in Battery Park City and currently under consideration for the New York Stock Exchange, the New York Times reported.

The novel ideas, which were proposed by Rogers Marvel Architects and include an unobtrusive truck barrier now in use in Battery Park City and a turntable barrier being considered for the New York Stock Exchange, are currently on view at the Municipal Art Society's Urban Center in midtown, the Times continued. 

The first, a barrier called the Tiger Trap that has been installed at Vesey Street and North End Avenue, consists of a threshold made of compressible concrete extended in front of a low wall, the paper reported. The threshold is strong enough to bear the weight of people on foot but that will collapse if a truck tries to cross it, sending the truck into the barrier wall, the paper continued.

The second consists of a 20-foot-wide turntable that would be embedded in Broad Street, the paper continued. Supporting a row of posts strong enough to resist a heavily speeding truck, the barrier would be kept in closed position most of the time but could rotate 90 degress to allow authorized vehicles to pass as necessary.

The turntable barrier is currently under review by the New York City Police Department and Art Commission as part of the second phase of a New York Stock Exchange streetscape program begun in 2003. If approved, it could replace the trucks that now serve as barriers sometime next year, the paper added.

For more on additional planned New York Stock Exchange improvements, please click here.