New Orleans was changing road boundaries on the time of truck assault By Reuters

By David Shepardson

(Reuters) – Town of New Orleans had begun changing safety boundaries alongside Bourbon Avenue earlier than Wednesday’s truck assault, which killed a minimum of 10 folks and injured greater than 30.

In response to vehicular assaults on pedestrian malls around the globe, New Orleans was eradicating and changing boundaries often called bollards that limit automobile site visitors within the Bourbon Avenue pedestrian zone. The boundaries had been first put in in 2017 earlier than the NBA All Star sport as a part of a $40 million safety plan.

NOLA.com reported Wednesday that an outdated barrier on the pedestrian crossing at Canal and Bourbon streets was eliminated a number of weeks in the past and gear for its alternative was in place. The newspaper quoted Bob Simms, who oversees safety initiatives for the French Quarter Administration District, as saying the outdated boundaries had been “very ineffective.”

A 2017 report commissioned by the town famous that the French Quarter “is usually densely populated with pedestrians and represents an space the place a mass casualty incident might happen.”

The report states that “the realm additionally presents a danger and goal for terrorism which the FBI has recognized as a priority that the town should tackle.”

New Orleans, which was the primary to put in bollards after different automobile assaults around the globe, mentioned it’s now putting in detachable chrome steel bollards that may be securely locked behind every crosswalk.

In line with the town’s web site, the mission is anticipated to be accomplished by the tip of January, in time for the NFL’s Tremendous Bowl on Feb. 9, which will probably be performed a couple of mile away on the New Orleans Superdome.

New Orleans Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick mentioned the motive force of the New Yr’s Eve assault was capable of drive across the barricades. “Due to the intentional mindset of this perpetrator – who went across the barricades to commit this – he was decided to create the carnage and harm that he induced,” she mentioned.