Good Mooooooove
DOT Requests Two Million in FEMA Emergency Dollars for Bollards

Read the latest news on this issue.

The market may not be bullish right now, but the commute sure is. Every morning and evening, thousands of pedestrians squeeze through the cattle chute that is Wall Street's one remaining open sidewalk. T.A. joins the thousands of frustrated downtown pedestrians in calling upon the City DOT and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to improve the commute by replacing the jersey barriers with bollards.

All around Lower Manhattan, hastily erected security barriers around high profile buildings are blocking sidewalks and delaying, inconveniencing and even endangering pedestrians. Bollards are a better solution. Sturdy bollards (steel posts or pylons, which can be fixed or retractable into the street) can stop trucks in their tracks while keeping sidewalks clear. Equally important, bollards are attractive and enhance the streetscape. They are the best antidote to the siege-like atmosphere that concrete jersey barriers impose upon the neighborhood.

Currently, FEMA is footing the bill for the enormous, ineffective and annoying jersey barriers. Thankfully, the DOT agrees with T.A. and has asked FEMA for $2 million to replace the barriers with bollards. The DOT is new to the business of perimeter security. They must be careful not to make the same mistakes their corporate neighbors have with large-footprint granite bollards and sidewalk-hogging concrete planters. T.A. thanks the DOT its smart decision to bring relief to thousands beleaguered downtown pedestrians by helping to ease sidewalk crowding.
Write to Commissioner Weinshall. Ask her to request FEMA money for space-saving steel security bollards to replace the sidewalk-hogging jersey barriers.

Write to:
Iris Weinshall
NYC DOT Commissioner
40 Worth Street
NYC 10013
nyc.gov/html/dot

LEFT: Retractable bollards in Cambridge, UK keep cars out, but let pedestrians, cyclists, emergency vehicles and deliveries in. RIGHT: Fixed bollards off of 5th Ave. in Manhattan widen the sidewalk to relieve crowding and shorten the crossing distance.

It's All About The Bollards:

T.A.'s recently published two-page handout on bollards is a must-have for those working to revive Lower Manhattan. Here are some excerpts:

Establishing Attractive Security and Pedestrian Areas in Lower Manhattan: Specifications
Retractable bollards and transponder pass key system.

Estimated total cost to secure 25 entrance points to existing pedestrian zones in Lower Manhattan: $750,000

Estimated cost per unit

Pump, bollards, casing and connection: $28,000 (Delta Industries)

Transponder Reader: $2,000 (Mark IV Industries)

100 Transponder Tags: $3,000

Fixed Security Bollards
1. Sidewalk space is at a premium downtown, so perimeter security (vehicle barriers) must be unobtrusive and passable by pedestrians. Fixed, federally crash-rated bollards have much smaller footprints than planters or concrete barriers.
2. Fixed bollards are used in several locations in NYC to widen sidewalks and guide vehicles to the safest path. NYC should also use them to widen sidewalks downtown, where crowding is worst.

Estimated cost for fixed security bollards (does not include labor):

Cost per bollard: $1,500

Cost to secure the face of an average north-south block (50 bollards, 5´ apart): $80,000.