Austin officials have been considering whether to allow vehicles back onto a stretch of Sixth Street normally closed during weekend evenings. But after a man killed at least 15 people when he drove into a crowd in New Orleans on New Year's Day, many are questioning the idea.
Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis said reopening the road could help police crack down on crime and make it easier to respond to calls for help.
Heading into the weekend, she said the department is increasing its presence throughout the city. But, she said, the incident in New Orleans will not stop the city from moving forward with its plan to reopen Sixth Street to traffic.
Davis also said closing the street requires a lot of resources and the department is struggling with officer shortages.
“Not only that, but the amount of calls for service, the amount of officers injured, the amount of uses of force – all those things are untenable," she told KUT. "We have to find ways to reduce that and look at risk to the police department, and this needs to be opened.”
"Public safety in the Sixth Street area is, in my opinion, unacceptable. One thing is you can't talk about an entertainment district without incidents like what happened in New Orleans being top of mind."Mayor Kirk Watson
The stretch of Sixth Street from I-35 to Congress Avenue has been closed to traffic on weekend nights for decades. The area is a nightlight destination filled with restaurants, bars, clubs, and live music and comedy venues.
The city launched a safety initiative after a mass shooting in 2021 that included adding more street lights and installing road barriers.
Last summer, Austin’s Downtown Commission recommended surrounding the entertainment district with 65 removable steel-rod barriers. The barriers would be placed every Thursday and removed Sundays. It would cost the city more than $500,000.
August Harris, who chairs the commission, said the barriers could help prevent the kinds of incidents like the one in New Orleans from happening in Austin.
"You can’t harden every site, but what sort of tools can the city bring to bear that provide some enhanced protections from this type of incident?" Harris said.
The City Council did not move forward with that plan, but Davis said the department is open to exploring all tools to help keep people safe.
Council Member Zo Qadri, who represents downtown, said safety is a priority for him.
"I'm committed to exploring with staff enhanced safety treatments for major street closures downtown, along with anything applicable to our City that investigations in New Orleans may reveal," he said in a written statement.
Mayor Kirk Watson told KUT something has to change to improve safety downtown and on Sixth Street.
"Public safety in the Sixth Street area is, in my opinion, unacceptable," Watson said. "One thing is you can't talk about an entertainment district without incidents like what happened in New Orleans being top of mind because they can occur."
While opening the road to traffic might seem counterintuitive, he said Davis and other public safety officials have been working with consultants around crowd management and safety who support it.
Davis said the plan is to reopen the street on Thursdays and Sundays to see how effective it is before making the change permanent.
"We can do this, but we have to be thoughtful about it," Davis said. "We are going to take our time and do this right, and at the end of the day if we can't, then we won't do it."
