NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Seven years in the past, New Orleans officers started putting in adjustable obstacles at intersections within the famed French Quarter to briefly forestall autos from coming into the vacationer space the place the slender streets are usually teeming with pedestrians each night time.
However the metal columns referred to as bollards have been within the technique of being changed and weren’t engaged early on New Yr’s Day when a motorist rammed a pickup truck through a crowd of revelers, killing no less than 15 folks.
The venture to take away and substitute the bollards alongside about eight blocks of bustling Bourbon Avenue, from St. Ann Avenue to Canal Avenue, started Nov. 18, metropolis data present. Momentary asphalt patches have been put in within the spots the place the metal columns have been eliminated, in accordance with the paperwork.
Metropolis officers haven’t confirmed whether or not the intersection the truck sped by means of was actively beneath development or stated if the substitute venture created a vulnerability.
A few of the previous bollards had “proved unreliable and have been non-operational,” the town stated in an announcement Wednesday afternoon. “Within the interim, white gate obstacles have been utilized in these areas, managed by the New Orleans Police Division (NOPD) to safe the road and regulate car entry for security functions.”
At some point earlier than New Yr’s Eve, New Orleans officers issued a visitors advisory about its car barrier substitute venture, stating that crews would work till 2 p.m. on Monday and attempt to “decrease highway closures as a lot as doable to cut back impacts” through the celebration.
“Presently, Bourbon Avenue is totally open from Canal Avenue to Toulouse Avenue,” the town stated in its Dec. 30 advisory.
The intersection of Bourbon and Canal is the place the pickup swerved round a police blockade and rammed into the mass of people. The motive force was shot to dying by police and the FBI is investigating the incident as an act of terrorism, authorities stated.
As vehicle attacks have increased in latest a long time, cities around the globe have put in bollards in pedestrian-heavy areas. New York Metropolis has put up related retractable metal columns round Occasions Sq., Metropolis Corridor and Wall Avenue. They’re additionally a typical sight in different massive cities comparable to London, Paris and Tokyo.
There have been proposals over time to show a lot of Bourbon Avenue right into a pedestrian plaza managed by a workforce targeted on making it secure, Louisiana Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser stated Wednesday. He advised The Related Press that it’s vital to look at each side of security following the New Yr’s Day carnage.
“You’ll be able to’t forestall one thing like this when somebody desires to kill folks,” Nungesser stated, “however I’m hoping we take a tough have a look at what we do as a result of there will probably be one other one, whether or not it’s in New Orleans or elsewhere.”
Addressing the elimination of the bollards, Nungesser stated, “How does that occur for a serious occasion?”
Initially put in starting in Dec. 2017 as a part of a $40 million security plan, the New Orleans’ bollards system consisted of 4 units of obstacles positioned at both aspect of Bourbon Avenue intersections. The interior two columns might be pushed again when unlocked by a ground-level management panel, permitting for a roughly 13-foot (4-meter) berth for autos to navigate by means of, NOLA.com reported when development started.
Aaron Miller, director of the town’s Workplace of Homeland Safety and Emergency Preparedness, stated on the time that the bollards would go up nightly consistent with metropolis guidelines that shut off stretches of the favored French Quarter boulevard solely to pedestrians. In any other case, they might solely be used to dam intersections both by a metropolis ordinance or throughout particular occasions, he stated.
The obstacles have been “designed to mitigate towards what we imagine the chance is for pedestrians” in part of the town he stated was “an iconic or symbolic goal,” Miller stated in Dec. 2017.
Wednesday’s rampage occurred amid the continued Bourbon Avenue Bollard Evaluation and Alternative Venture, which incorporates “eradicating the previous bollards, changing concrete pavement, developing concrete bases, putting in metallic sleeves for the brand new bollards, and repouring the roadway,” in accordance with the town’s Wednesday assertion. To this point, 11 of the 16 bollard places have been changed, the assertion stated.
Every day inspections monitor progress, and testing stories issued right this moment verify the required materials energy has been achieved.
On Dec. 10, the town posted a photograph on social media of a torn-up avenue within the French Quarter, with two bollards sitting atop a pallet. Work was scheduled to be accomplished by early Feb. 2025, when New Orleans will host the Tremendous Bowl, metropolis data present.
“The venture contains changing previous bollards with new detachable stainless-steel bollards and sidewalk repairs at varied places,” a Division of Public Works doc states.
In a Nov. 26 replace, metropolis officers stated work together with concrete pouring was occurring on each side of Bourbon Avenue “with out closing intersections to car visitors.”
Picture: The FBI investigates the world on Orleans St and Bourbon Avenue by St. Louis Cathedral within the French Quarter the place a suspicious package deal was detonated after an individual drove a truck right into a crowd earlier on Bourbon Avenue on Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025. (AP Picture/Matthew Hinton)
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