The 2017 truck attack that killed eight people on the Hudson River Greenway can feel like a distant or even forgotten memory to anyone using the path today. But a lasting legacy of the tragedy is hard to miss: Dozens of barriers and bollards that keep drivers from entering the country’s busiest bike path.
The barriers were put in place shortly after the attack, in which Islamic State group sympathizer Sayfullo Saipov ran over cyclists and pedestrians in a rental pickup truck in the deadliest terrorist attack in New York City since 9/11. Saipov was sentenced to life in prison on Monday after a jury spared him the death penalty.
Bollards, concrete barriers and blocks line the greenway along 56 intersections south of 59th Street. The state paid $15 million to put them in, and the city put down two cement blocks at every pedestrian entrance that faces the Hudson River along the path. The infrastructure is far more visible than a trio of small plaques on the path honoring the victims.
The barriers are cause for complaints from cyclists and pedestrians — but many acknowledge they’re a necessary inconvenience to keep the route safe.
“I suppose they are quite ugly, those concrete blocks placed in the cycleway,” said Scottish tourist Anthony Baxter, 53, who was riding a Citi Bike on the path. “But they serve a purpose and probably prevent vehicles from trundling down there or plowing through and that’s gotta be a good thing."
“It’d be nice if they did a bit more on the design of the cycleway, just made it a little more aesthetically pleasing perhaps in keeping with the lovely park,” Baxter said.
Sayfullo Saipov was arrested on Oct. 20, 2016 on a failure to appear charge for a traffic violation from Platte County court in Missouri.
The bollards are 4 feet apart – a distance the advocacy group Transportation Alternatives worried in 2018 creates “a great deal of friction.” The advocacy news outlet Streetsblog called the measures “security overkill” that flouted national guidelines recommending 5 feet between bollards on shared-use paths.
“It seems sort of unnecessary,” Bruce Rosenkrantz, 81, who cycles regularly on the path, said on a recent unseasonably warm day. “They could be less and wider apart so bikes could get through easier.”
Ernest Reid, 42, couldn’t recall why the barriers were installed, but understood their purpose.
“It does bottleneck it a bit,” said Reid, who was riding his two-wheeled Segway called a Loomo. “But I understand their purpose, so I accept it as a necessary evil.”
The city implemented similar security measures in Times Square in 2017, after Richard Rojas drove his car into pedestrians months before the Hudson River Greenway attack. Rojas killed one woman and injured many others. The event prompted the city to install 1,500 bollards in Times Square at a cost of $50 million.
Last year, jurors found Rojas was not responsible for that attack due to mental illness.
Some cyclists have criticized the security measures on the Hudson River Greenway as over the top.
A spokesperson for the state Department of Transportation said measures on the Hudson River Greenway also include “gates and high curbs.”
“Our objective was to provide a safe and enjoyable corridor for all users of this popular facility and we remain committed to those goals and meeting all relevant standards for security,” said spokesperson Glenn Blain.
Jon Orcutt, with the advocacy group Bike New York, said the spacing of the barriers could be adjusted to create less of a traffic jam for cyclists. But he appreciated the protection from cars.
“They’re ugly, though they are still more functional protection than we have on most of the bike network,” Orcutt wrote to Gothamist.
