By Josh Williams
DNAinfo Reporter/ Producer
FINANCIAL DISTRICT — The years of makeshift security checkpoints and ugly barriers that disrupted pedestrian traffic on Wall Street since 9/11 are over.
Recent upgrades, including barriers that move on a turntable embedded in the street, have improved security in Manhattan's financial epicenter while incorporating elements of the street's history to make it more asthetically pleasing.
“The work is beautiful,” said Community Board 1 member Bill Love after a recent breifing from the architect responsbile for the changes, Rogers Marvel Architects.
Love wasn't the only member of the CB1's financial district committee to be wowed by the changes at a meeting last week.
Architect Robert Rogers said his firm had made to sure that security levels were as high as they could be, while improving the view of Wall Street.
Among the upgrades are replica wooden posts that show the original northern border of Manhattan from back when Wall Street actually had a wall.
New European-style brick have replaced traditional asphalt on the road, adding to the historical feeling of the street.
Also, turntable-style security checkpoint barriers have replaced the standard pop-up barriers that had cut off traffic to the New York Stock Exchange for years.
These barriers have gold-colored ballards that look like sculpture that are attached to a turntable embedded in the street. If a car needs to pass, the security barrier rotates, allowing for a lane.
