Its been just a few days since a heavy truck rammed through a crowd on Bourbon Street, killing 14 people, and injuring many more. The New Orleans attack on New Yearscoincided with recent ones in Las Vegas and Magdeburg, Germany, prompting discussions about how best to fortify pedestrian spaces from weaponized cars. It also elicited conversations about the psychological state of U.S. military veterans, and the rise in recent years of domestic terrorist attacks carried out by service members. Not long after the New Orleans catastrophe, reporters found that the new bollards planned for Bourbon Street, scheduled to be installed by February ahead of the Super Bowl, wouldnt have been strong enough to thwart the drivers Ford F-150, which weighed approximately 6,000 pounds, sparking concerns for many.An extensive rehab plan was underway on Bourbon Street at the time of the New Years Eve attack. (New Orleans Department of Public Works)The area known colloquially as Bourbon Street is a strip eight blocks long that starts to the south at Canal Street and terminates at St. Ann Street, to the north. The driver came from the south, entered from Canal Street, and then proceeded to drive north early the morning of January 1.The bollards which are employed to protect pedestrians at the mouth of Canal Street had been swapped out several times in the past few years. The older versionsmanufactured by a British company, Healdwere stronger than the ones being installed on the street for the Super Bowl. In 2017, New Orleans Department of Public Works officials chose to replace bollards from Heald that could withstand a strike by a 15,000-pound truck going 40 miles per hour with different bollards that were much less resistant.These new versions were S-10 rated, a type of bollard typically installed in front of glass storefronts at shopping malls, not pedestrian thoroughfares. The proposed bollards would be removable to allow for ease of passage for delivery and emergency vehicles.S-10 bollards are meant to withstand pedal misapplication, not terrorism, according to Scott Rosenbloom, who owns a Louisiana-based bollard supply plant. According to the city, S-10 was chosen to eliminate pedestrian tripping hazards, but they could stop only a 5,000-pound vehicle moving 10 miles per hour.Conceptual rendering of the bollards in place (New Orleans Department of Public Works)Conceptual rendering of the bollards stored (New Orleans Department of Public Works)Jeff Halaut, a security consultant, called S-10 the lowest of the low. Halaut added: I dont know any consultant or any engineering or design firm that knows anything about crash ratings that would put an S-10 in a target-rich environment.Construction began on the current street improvement project in November 2024. A construction update from the city published in late December 2024 shared images of the work underway in the French Quarter. Mott MacDonald is the local engineering firm behind the project.At a news conference on Sunday, New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell said the city is again looking into the proposed bollards. The question of how to protect pedestrian spaces from terrorism without stripping them of their vitality has perplexed planners for some time now. Theo Deutinger, an Austrian architect and educator, has dedicated significant time and attention to this subject, namely to the militarization of urban spaces.State of Tyranny, a show Deutinger curated at Storefront for Art & Architecture in 2019, explored how Lower Manhattan had been transformed after 9/11 for counter-terrorism purposes, meticulously mapping every single bollard south of Canal Street.Over the last years, at least as landscape architects based in the Netherlands, we have seen security move up earlier in the design process, Deutinger recently wrote. But now, It is increasingly included in the first project brief.