There are – or at least were – barricades installed in New Orleans’ Bourbon Street district to prevent terror attacks by people driving vehicles into crowds – as happened early New Year’s Day when 15 were killed and dozens injured.
But they were removed for overhaul.
A report from NOLA explained the security barriers were installed in 2017 and designed to prevent people from driving into crowds along Bourbon Street.
They are removable stainless-steel bollards that were to be locked at each crosswalk along Bourbon between Canal and St. Ann streets.
But they were in the process of being replaced.
The repair and replacement project began in November and was scheduled for three months, the report said.
“The bollard project began in November and was scheduled to last three months. It involves removing and replacing sections of road to take out the existing bollards. A city press release on Tuesday night noted the project was ongoing, but did not provide details of work done thus far,” the report said.
Bob Simms, spokesman, said the old barriers didn’t work well.
“They were very ineffective. The track was always full of crap; beads and doubloons and God knows what else. Not the best idea, Simms said in the report. “Eventually everybody realized the need to replace them. They’re in the process of doing that, but the new ones are not yet operational.”
U.S. Rep. Troy Carter explained the barriers should have prevented any vehicle from driving down Bourbon. If they were not working, the city should have blocked access with heavy equipment, he said.
“If they were not operable, that’s unacceptable. And if they were not operable, there should have been a Plan B. There should have been a tow truck,” Carter said.
The report said the work partly was in reaction to the July 2016 mass murder in Nice, France, when a terrorist used a truck as a weapon to plow into a Bastille Day crowd, killing 86 and injuring hundreds more. A few months later a copycat killed 12 shoppers in a Berlin Christmas market.
A witness to Wednesday’s attack, Jimmy Cothran, confirmed that the barriers were not being used:
