What are these weird posts on the sidewalk in Manhattan?

September 1, 2008 10:25 PM

What are these weird posts on the sidewalk in Manhattan?

I recently have seen rectangular posts installed on the sidewalk in lower Manhattan. (south of 14th street) They are painted gray, have two circular yellow barriers on the street side to prevent cars from hitting them, and have a scary sticker on the top warning of electrocution. Another hint: the wet paint sign on one says Department of Transportation on it.

Here are two pictures of what I am talking about:

Picture 1

Picture 2

posted by dcjd to Grab Bag (4 answers total)

By the looks of it, something is yet to be installed on top of them (parking meters, perhaps?). They probably wanted to let the paint dry first.
posted by wsp at 10:34 PM on September 1, 2008

Best answer: Looks like a future Muni Meter (multi-space meter that prints receipts and allows credit payments) More info.
posted by ALongDecember at 10:45 PM on September 1, 2008

Response by poster: That Muni Meter picture looks pretty much identical. I think this one is solved!
posted by dcjd at 10:51 PM on September 1, 2008

Seconding ALongDecember, that is definitely it. I watched the whole process unfold from months of cig breaks at work.
posted by Mach5 at 7:46 AM on September 2, 2008