New street barriers for New Orleans can't stop attack by fast vehicle

City officials face scrutiny over whether they are still leaving people vulnerable

- JOHN ACKERMAN

Months before the deadly New Orleans vehicle attack on New Year's Day, the city modeled scenarios for how an attacker could enter Bourbon Street at various intersections in a crew-cab Ford F-150 similar to the one used to kill 14 people and injure dozens more.

Engineers found such a pick-up could enter the crowded tourist strip at speeds ranging from 12mph to 70mph (19kmh to 112kmh) - and yet city officials are now installing new street barriers that can withstand only 10mph (16kmh) impacts, according to an April city-contracted engineering analysis and city bid documents reviewed by Reuters.

Those new barriers, known as "bollards", had not yet been installed on Bourbon Street on New Year's Day but are planned to be completed by the Feb 9 National Football League Super Bowl in New Orleans.

The documents reviewed by Reuters, which have not been previously reported, make clear that the system will not be able to prevent vehicle attacks at moderate to high speeds.

In selecting the new bollard system, the city prioritized ease of operation over crashworthiness of the new system because of chronic problems in operating the old one, according to the documents and a source with direct knowledge of the city's Bourbon Street security planning.

Unlike some pedestrian-only zones, such as in New York City's Times Square, Bourbon Street is open to regular vehicular traffic for much of the day, requiring city officials to block parts of it off from surrounding streets each evening.

Since the New Year's Day attack, New Orleans officials have faced scrutiny over whether they left citizens vulnerable as crews were removing old bollards and installing new ones. But neither barrier system would have prevented the deadly attack, according to the source and a Reuters review of the city documents.