NYPD Security Theater: Out of the Times Square Bike Lane and Onto the Sidewalk

A few months after the city built a raised bike lane on Seventh Avenue to create a bicycling bypass around the Times Square plazas, NYPD closed if off with barricades in response to a fatal vehicular attack. Seven months later, the bike lane segment is free and clear, shown in this photo shared by a reader.

The raised Seventh Avenue bike lane runs from 46th Street to 42nd Street. In May, NYPD lined it with metal fencing and concrete Jersey barriers, rendering it unusable:

NYPD’s Midtown security theater escalated dramatically after the October West Side Greenway attack. Not all of the Seventh Avenue fencing remained in place through the end of 2017, but much of it did, and police continued to park in the bike lane.

Police finally seem to be adapting their barrier placement to how people outside of cars get around Midtown. While the replacement concrete blocks on Seventh Avenue are chunky, they occupy the utility pole zone on the sidewalk. They might even be good for sitting, which is what the people want.