Nashville Announces New Safety Measures Coming To Broadway In Response To Bourbon Street Terrorist Attack

A much-needed safety improvement.

Downtown Nashville has become one of the top party destinations in the country in recent years, with millions of people flocking to lower Broadway every year to listen to live music, bar hop, and generally just get drunk off their behinds.

It’s become so crowded that a couple of years ago, the city began closing off Broadway to vehicular traffic on the weekends to allow pedestrians to walk in the street, something that’s been a big help when the sidewalk gets packed at night.

But obviously with that big of a crowd comes some security risks – and I’m not just talking about drunk people throwing hands when they get denied entry into the bar. We all remember what happened on New Year’s Day in New Orleans, when a terrorist drove his truck down a crowded Bourbon Street as people were out celebrating, killing 14 people and injuring 57 more before finally being killed in a gunfight with police.

It’s sad that we even have to worry about these things when people are just out trying to have a good time, but unfortunately that’s just the world we live in these days. So Nashville decided to take some proactive steps to try to prevent a tragedy like the Bourbon Street attack from happening on Broadway.

The Nashville Department of Transportation announced today that they would be installing Raptor bollards along 5th Avenue and Broadway, which is the main entrance onto Broadway near Bridgestone Arena and the Ryman Auditorium, to prevent vehicles from entering the street when it’s closed off.

While the Metro Nashville Police Department has typically used police cruisers to block off the street, these new retractable bollards will be able to pop up and down as needed to prevent any bad actors from driving into a crowd. According to their website, Raptor bollards have been tested to stop a 7.5 ton truck driving at 50 mph.

Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell said the project was already in the works, but the New Orleans terrorist attack sped up their timeline:

“We were already exploring bollards before, but the New Orleans attack increased focus on that. All these steps are trying to make sure the entertainment district is safe not just on busy weekends but year-round.”

The city has already installed bollards along the sidewalks to separate vehicles from pedestrians.

Installation of the new bollards will come as part of a pilot program costing $2.6, and the hope is to eventually roll it out to other intersections downtown after the initial test. NDOT plans to close 5th and Broadway for approximately three weeks in November to install the bollards, which require less digging and pose less risk to underground infrastructure than traditional retractable bollards. Full rollout of the project is expected by 2026.

The new bollards are obviously a much-needed safety measure, as we’ve unfortunately seen in the past. The street is often packed with crowds, especially on weekends or during events at Bridgestone Arena like concerts or Nashville Predators games, and it’s nice to see the city being proactive when it comes to preventing a horrific event like we saw in New Orleans.The post Nashville Announces New Safety Measures Coming To Broadway In Response To Bourbon Street Terrorist Attack first appeared on Whiskey Riff.