The city of New Orleans has now begun recovery from the deadly attack on New Years' Day. The Sugar Bowl went on and Bourbon Street has reopened.
But more challenges await, with the city set to host the Super Bowl and Mardi Gras in the weeks ahead.
Scripps News spoke with Rep. Troy Carter, Sr., who represents Louisiana's 2nd District in the U.S. House.
"The concern now is 'how do we recover from this? What do we need to do?'" Carter said. "I understand there was a 2019 study that identified weaknesses that may not have been corrected. We know that Canal Street is now wider than one vehicle. Perhaps we needed two dump trucks or we needed three vehicles to prevent someone from making it to the sidewalk."
On Bourbon Street, Carter said, "If the bollards had been up, those sidewalks are too narrow. A car could not have gotten along it. But at the risk of playing Monday morning quarterback, rather than going backwards we now need to do a complete diagnostic of the French Quarter, on all of its safety entrances and exits, to make sure that we are anticipating what we sometimes can anticipate, and that is a terrorist threat."
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"We have to make sure that we're utilizing the best practices, the best technology, utilizing our federal, local and state law enforcement partners to create the best system of protection," Carter said.
"What happened on New Years' Eve was a terrorist attack that could have happened anywhere. Let's learn from it."
Watch the full interview with Carter in the video above.
