Times Square 'Bow Tie' Is to Get Belts of Steel and Granite Times Square, one the most free-flowing public spaces in the world, will be constrained a bit by the addition of dozens of stainless-steel bollards and granite barriers that are intended to prevent terrorists - and drunks - from driving vehicles on to the pedestrian plazas that have been created between West 42nd and West 47th Streets. The installation of new security measures throughout Times Square, a step that has been advocated by the Police Department, was approved Jan. 7 by the mayoral Design Commission. Paul J. Browne, the deputy police commissioner for public information, said in a telephone interview, "We are concerned about pedestrians and other individuals who are using this newly created recreational space being protected from vehicles used either accidentally or intentionally against them." Among the threats Mr. Browne noted were drunken drivers, drivers who lost control of their vehicles for other reasons, would-be killers who planned to drive into crowds, and would-be bombers who parked explosive-filled vehicles in the square, as happened in 2010. A spokesman for Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, John McCarthy, said the measures would not change current vehicular traffic routes in Times Square. Installation of the devices is expected to be finished this year. The bollards and barriers are part of an ambitious project intended to make permanent the pedestrian landscaping of Times Square and its northern extension, Duffy Square. By closing parts of the crossroads to traffic in 2009, the Bloomberg administration effectively created five large plazas along Broadway and Seventh Avenue. The plazas are enormously popular with tourists, office workers and those who like to dress up as oversized cartoon characters, but they have always had an impromptu feeling about them. The permanent landscaping would literally cast the plazas in stone. It has been designed by the acclaimed architectural firm Snohetta of Oslo, Norway, which is also responsible for the aboveground pavilion of the National September 11 Memorial Museum. The landscaping project was announced in 2011 but has taken time to advance through public review as officials wrestled with the security question. Current measures include big chunks of concrete painted white, with the initials "NYPD" in blue; semi-conical planters that look like a hangover from the post-Modernist movement and flimsy movable barricades. "We had to strike a balance between reasonable protection and keeping the city's most symbolic and visible public space both open and appealing," said Tim Tompkins, president of the Times Square Alliance, which runs the local business improvement district. "While I was wary at first, I think the designers' mix of reasonably sized bollards and multi-functional linear barriers strikes that balance," he continued. Part of what got me there was realizing that we already had 100 clunky, standard-issue planters serving that function that were hardly sources of aesthetic inspiration. On Dec. 11, Snohetta submitted a revised description of the security measures to the Design Commission, noting that the new plazas draw an estimated 364,000 people to Times Square every day. "Tables, chairs and food kiosks create an atmosphere that invites people to linger with an expectation of safety," the firm said. The plazas cannot simply be blocked off because emergency vehicles, sanitation and sign maintenance trucks and large food-service trailers must be able to cross. Snohetta said the 30-inch high stainless-steel bollards would be arranged parallel to the cross streets "in order to maximize porosity for pedestrians moving north and south through the bow tie." It will be possible to remove a few key bollards by twisting them off their posts, to allow vehicles to pass through the palisade when necessary. Snohetta said the bollards would blend in with other stainless-steel elements in its landscaping plan. The linear granite barriers will parallel Seventh Avenue and double as benches. They, too, will be removable if necessary. The installation of permanent security devices will "minimize the need for the Police Department to deploy additional barriers such as concrete blocks," Snohetta said. It is expected that the overall landscaping and street repair project in Times Square will be completed in 2016. It is to include roadway reconstruction and the replacement of aging water pipes and sewer mains. The cost is currently estimated at $55 million, but not all the contractors' bids are submitted, so the total could change. The mayor's press office declined to break out the cost of the bollards and barriers. Rogers Marvel Architects, the firm responsible for the security landscaping around the New York Stock Exchange, is also involved with the Times Square project; as are Weidlinger Associates, an engineering firm that specializes in security reinforcement; and the security consulting firm Ducibella Venter & Santore.