Revealed: New Orleans touted public safety street closures for years but didn’t implement them

A Guardian analysis shows that vehicles were allowed to approach Bourbon Street despite safety plans in years leading up to deadly attack

Local government officials in New Orleans, which endured an intentional, deadly truck ramming attack on its most famous street during New Year's Day celebrations, have not shut down vehicular cross traffic on that street during major events nearly 90 times - evidently failing to fully enact public safety plans that they touted ahead of the gatherings, a Guardian investigation has confirmed.

In many cases, cars and other vehicles were allowed to cross the street for the entire period that the city's press releases said they would be forbidden from doing so. And during all but a handful of days, officials failed to place any physical barriers that would prevent motorists intending to attack crowds there from turning in either direction on to Bourbon Street, a one-way thoroughfare, leaving pedestrians vulnerable to terrorists for many years.