Seven years ago, New Orleans officials began installing adjustable barriers at intersections in the famed French Quarter to temporarily prevent vehicles from entering the tourist area where the narrow streets are typically teeming with pedestrians every night. But the steel columns known as bollards were in the process of being replaced and were not engaged early on New Year’s Day when a motorist rammed a pickup truck through a crowd of revelers, killing at least 15 people. The project to remove and replace the bollards along about eight blocks of bustling Bourbon Street, from St. Ann Street to Canal Street, began Nov. 18, city records show. Temporary asphalt patches were installed in the spots where the steel columns were removed, according to the documents. City officials have not confirmed whether the intersection the truck sped through was actively under construction or said if the replacement project created a vulnerability. Some of the old bollards had “proved unreliable and have been non-operational,” the city said in a statement Wednesday afternoon. “In the interim, white gate barriers have been used in these areas, managed by the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) to secure the street and regulate vehicle access for safety purposes.” One day before New Year’s Eve, New Orleans officials issued a traffic advisory about its vehicle barrier replacement project, stating that crews would work until 2 p.m. on Monday and try to “minimize road closures as much as possible to reduce impacts” during the celebration. “Currently, Bourbon Street is fully open from Canal Street to Toulouse Street,” the city said in its Dec. 30 advisory. The intersection of Bourbon and Canal is where the pickup swerved around a police blockade and rammed into the mass of people. The driver was shot to death by police and the FBI is investigating the incident as an act of terrorism, authorities said. As vehicle attacks have increased in recent decades, cities around the world have installed bollards in pedestrian-heavy areas. New York City has put up similar retractable steel columns around Times Square, City Hall and Wall Street. They are also a common sight in other large cities such as London, Paris and Tokyo. There have been proposals over the years to turn much of Bourbon Street into a pedestrian plaza managed by a team focused on making it safe, Louisiana Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser said Wednesday. He told The Associated Press that it’s important to examine every aspect of safety following the New Year’s Day carnage. “You can’t prevent something like this when someone wants to kill people,” Nungesser said, “but I’m hoping we take a hard look at what we do because there will be another one, whether it’s in New Orleans or elsewhere.” Addressing the removal of the bollards, Nungesser said, “How does that happen for a major event?” Initially installed beginning in Dec. 2017 as part of a $40 million safety plan, the New Orleans’ bollards system consisted of four sets of barriers placed at either side of Bourbon Street intersections. The inner two columns can be pushed back when unlocked by a ground-level control panel, allowing for a roughly 13-foot (4-meter) berth for vehicles to navigate through, NOLA.com reported when construction began. Aaron Miller, director of the city’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, said at the […]