As I mentioned the other day, a metal barricade was placed between those going into Grand Central from below and those descending from Grand Central into the subways.

The barricade was there Monday, gone yesterday, and gone again today. Coincidentally, I noticed that yesterday and today featured the worst buildup of foot traffic at the top of the escalators that I’d seen in the past year; a bottleneck heading down, and one almost as bad heading up.

Turns out, one of the escalators that brings people up to Grand Central from the 4, 5, 6 and 7 trains was out of commission. It was a good two-minute wait to get onto the down staircase–which at the time feels like, oh, an hour or so.

Not sure the barricade would’ve actually helped, or if commuters would’ve simply gotten crushed against it like some sort of overpacked soccer stadium disaster. Hopefully the elevator’s up and running tomorrow.