Summary
New Orleans is installing new 10-mph-rated bollards on Bourbon Street to replace failing barriers ahead of the Feb. 9 Super Bowl, despite knowing they can’t stop moderate-to-high-speed vehicle attacks like the deadly New Year’s Day incident that killed 14.
The city prioritized ease of use over crash safety due to maintenance issues with older barriers.
Critics argue the new system leaves vulnerabilities, as the engineering report showed vehicles could still exceed the bollards’ speed rating.
Officials face scrutiny over balancing security and daily operations in the crowded tourist zone.
I feel like there are a lot of misunderstandings here and it makes sense as to why.
New Orleans (my former home) is complicated. It’s not as straightforward as bollards vs no bollards or vehicles vs pedestrians, etc.
NOLA has obviously been through a lot over the past 20 years - Katrina, Rita, and recently Ida in 2021 were all hard hitting storms.
The influx of visitors for Mardi Gras in 2020 is what made Covid especially devastating for the city.
It’s a poor city that relies on tourism to stay alive. The overall education system in Louisiana is abysmal and the politics are extremely dysfunctional. The rest of the state (conservative) despises NOLA (liberal), but they realize their livelihoods depend on its debauchery so they “allow” it (a whole other story).
So the city needs tourism to stay alive. The tourists mostly stick to the French Quarter - Bourbon Street is the famous one, right? There are a lot of businesses on Bourbon - mostly bars/clubs, tourist shops, restaurants, some hotels, etc.
Those places need to be able to receive regular deliveries, but there are also residences on Bourbon and in the FQ as a whole.
Could some system be put up to accommodate the delivery drivers, the employees, the residents, the tourists who park at hotels, taxis/Uber/Lyft and the safety of pedestrians? Let’s assume sure, why not.
Where does the money come from? The city itself is poor. The state hates the city so why do they need to direct money to the place of sin and majority poor Black residents? Louisiana infrastructure overall is shit, anyway. Federal? Okay, but that would mean the city talking to the state talking to the federal government and that’s fucked up in so many ways. And Trump is about to be inaugurated, so good luck with that.
My point is/TLDR - projects like this aren’t something that NOLA can do on its own. The state won’t help it and I don’t expect the Trump admin to, either.
It’s a difficult and complex situation and most Louisiana politicians have no incentive to do anything about it until it somehow begins to impact them directly. They’ll just get on TV during press conferences and point fingers at the failure of the liberal NOLA politicians while ignoring their own failure to act over the years.
It’s a fucking shitshow and it’s sad.
Right but installing larger bollards is not very expensive.
It’s not just about the size, it’s also about their weight and maneuverability due to the use cases I outlined above and that the article also goes into.
There are retractable bollards as well. More expensive but this is exactly why the exist.
Deliveries can be made by cargo bicycles, as they do in Europe.
The only reason a reinforced concrete barrier should be moved is to permit entry is for ambulances and fire trucks.
Bikes can only really do final mile deliveries. They still use trucks/trains for bulk deliveries in Europe. You local grocery store isn’t getting stocked by bikes.
Thats exactly what we’re talking about with NO. Making Burbon St car-free.
You can still have a street a mile away have a lot for truck parking, unloading onto bikes for final last mile delivery to car-free sections
My local grocery store is being stocked with hand trucks and forklifts.
It may blow Americans minds but forklifts and hand trucks can travel half a block to a side street to unload if needed.
No supermarket can exist from deliveries by cargo bikes. That’s why cargo bikes supplying shops is a rare exception, even in Europe.
And if you have a viable idea how to move substatial concrete barriers that could prevent such an attack fast enough for emergency vehicles, please post.