New Orleans’ planned new Bourbon Street barriers only crash-rated to 10 mph
New Orleans’ planned new Bourbon Street barriers only crash-rated to 10 mph
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.
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Unlike some pedestrian-only zones, such as in New York City’s Times Square, Bourbon Street is open to regular vehicle traffic for much of the day, requiring city officials to block parts of it off from surrounding streets each evening.
Once again, driver convenience takes precedence over people's lives. You want the shops and the tourism, then commit and make it pedestrian-only.
yeah sorta amazes me they allow cars at all.
It doesn’t amaze me that they let in street cleaners though, if you’ve ever seen that place in the morning.
It amazes me that they have street cleaners at all. That city is nasty as hell.
They have street cleaning down to an art. It’s amazing to watch. Does the French Quarter often smell like a mixture of piss and vomit? Yes, because drunk tourists are consistently doing these things on the streets/sidewalks.
Not to mention all of the leftover trash from the various parades…imagine if there was no regular street cleaning.
It’s truly a spectacle to behold.
Ok. Here's a crazy idea. We just...stop with the street cleaning and trash collection. First, pass a law that everything must be sold in biodegradable containers. Then, just let things lay wherever they are dropped! Over time, like archaeological sediment, all the trash dumped in the French Quarter will slowly compact, decompose, and turn into soil, thus raising the elevation of the ground. As the French Quarter is already one of the highest elevations in the city, this increased sediment will flow downhill, gradually raising the elevation of the entire city. Eventually, they won't even need the dyke system anymore, as the whole city will be raised well above sea level! The city will be like one of those ancient Mississippian mound building cultures. Except this mound will mostly be composed of piss, vomit, and plastic beads.
I think the best part of this little thought experiment is that the solution is basically "fill new Orleans in with Garbage"
I wonder if you would be able to smell the different layers unique flavors as eras favor a certain alcohol cocktail over another. Could have a really famous scientist in 1,000 years that could tell you within a 20 year time period what layer some sediment came from by just taking a whiff.
I think microplastics and biohazards would come into play at some point, but sure, why not. Choose your own adventure.
They also don’t have alleys there so all the bar trash is just tossed in the front. It’s really a gross ass place.
I used to live there and yes, Bourbon St. is gross, but I was trying to say that it is cleaned regularly and very well. But it will also continue to be regularly trashed, so the cycle will continue indefinitely.
In Marti gras, the "street cleaners" were front-end loaders.
It was disgusting how much trash everyone generated.
seeing people walk their kids to church passing by the strip club with photos on the entrance and guys literally hosing out the bar. What a sight.
Makes sense for deliveries and freight, but as someone else said, they really should invest in those retractable post barriers.
I think they had those, but they broke because they stopped paying the maintenance company.
What do you have to pay? You just need a couple concrete posts in a hole with a padlock on them.
It was probably one of those fancy electric ones with remote access. Cities will pay millions for something like that instead of the low tech solution of just having a guy with a key there that'll set you back a few tens of thousands a year.
Or just give a key to the fire department and the municipal waste department.
Even with the high tech electric option, you probably still want at least one armed guard sitting watch at the intersection between pedestrians and people operating pedestrian-murder-machines
Anything that a person (or two) can unlock, lift up and move out of the way isn't even close to structurally sound enough to stop a large vehicle with speed, mass and determination on its side.
They should install permanent barriers that can stop the largest of trucks. Then simply close the whole area off to vehicle traffic. Within the district, the only vehicles allowed are bicycles, cargo bikes, and small golf carts. You bring in deliveries by bicycle or other small electric vehicle. People living there can park their vehicles a few block away in lots located outside the pedestrian-only zone. Trash can hauled by cart a few blocks and then transferred to regular trucks.
We have zero problem organizing logistics like these for every shopping mall in the country. Yet somehow it become impossible the moment the shopping mall no longer has a roof on it.
I feel like they could install the automatic ones that retract fully into the ground and they trigger at set times or has someone come around to activate them and put them away in the morning. Seen those ones stop cars in their tracks.