In 1998 New York City erected barriers on Fifth Avenue to keep pedestrians from crossing on one side at 49th and 50th Streets. The object was to make it easier for cars to make turns from these streets onto Fifth Avenue and thus to speed cross-town traffic flow. Manhattan has many cross streets parallel to 49th and 50th Streets, and vehicular traffic is usually very congested for many miles around these corners. People also have many alternative means of travel in Manhattan (foot, bus, subway, cab). Pedestrians and pedestrian-advocacy groups protested loudly about the barriers, but the mayor maintained that speeding vehicular traffic in midtown Manhattan was an important public-policy objective. Analyze this initiative to determine its impact on vehicular speed and congestion in midtown Manhattan.