New York City will be installing 1,500 bollards on city streets as reported by the New York Times. While these bollards have previously been installed around Times Square in 2016, they have previously only been installed for diplomatic buildings and some private enterprises.

In May 2017 an individual high on PCP used a rental truck to drive down a bike path on the city’s west side. Eight people were killed. The 50 million dollars spent on securing undisclosed pedestrian locations will include metal bollards and also large planters which will be placed at vulnerable locations. Concrete cubes and barriers previously installed will be replaced with items that are less cumbersome to walk around and that are more aesthetic.

New York City’s mayor de Blasio stated that the bollards were “necessary to immediately secure those areas in light of these new trends we’ve seen. But we knew we needed long-term solutions, we needed permanent barriers. People have to be able to get around, but they have to be safe at the same time.”
Discussion are also ongoing to further limit car access to the Times Square area and also re-evaluate whether vehicular traffic should be further restricted in other popular pedestrian locations.