FAIRHOPE – Portable vehicle barriers designed to stop a full-sized pickup truck and more than 1,000 additional steel barricades are among the purchases proposed to improve Mardi Gras safety in Fairhope.
With record crowds turning out for some 2020 parades, Fairhope is looking at ways to keep people safe during the celebrations, Richard Johnson, public works director, said at the Feb. 27 City Council work session.
“We came to the conclusion that our greatest challenge is maintaining a safe and secure event by keeping our visiting public separate from the active parade route,” Johnson said. “That is the challenge that we are facing today.”
The proposal discussed by the council calls for the city to buy 1,054 additional 8-foot steel barricades, 120 barricade trailers and 12 portable barriers to stop vehicles. The total costs would be $225,440, according to city estimates.
Johnson said the costs could be paid through a grant from the Alabama Emergency Management Agency. If the Baldwin County Emergency Management Agency receives the grant, the barriers could also be used for other events around Baldwin County, Johnson said.
“We’ve got to separate pedestrians from floats and vehicle traffic,” Johnson said. “That’s just a must. That’s a challenge even for the best of systems.”
Steel barricades line a little more than half the 2.5 miles of the Fairhope streets used for Mardi Gras parades, Johnson said. The rest of the route is cordoned off by steel cables.
The cables are 32 to 36 inches off the ground and present little barrier to children.
“We’ve got to eliminate the single cable barrier, For the little kids it’s not a barrier. They can dart out directly under it and we need to have something that truly does give a separation,’ Johnson said. “Our goal is to fully enclose the parade route employing interlocked steel barricades. The ones we own they will lock together and once they’re locked you can’t unlock them.”
Fairhope has 840 steel barricades that can block about 1.54 miles of route. The city uses cables along 1.28 miles of route.
Jessica Walker, Fairhope community development director, said barriers can protect more than just observers. At the Mystic Mutts of Revelry dog parade on Feb. 15, downtown merchants and pet owners said the crowds came up to the animals.
“One of their main requests was a fully barricaded route for safety for what they do, not just for pedestrian safety, but also for safety for our visitors who are there,” Walker said. “A lot of times people get in the dogs’ faces. You don’t want to get in a dog’s face.”
Barricades would require more time to erect before parades than cables, Johnson said. He said that while the Homeland Security grant could pay for the materials, the city would have to pay some costs for employees to put up and maintain the barricades.
Council President Jack Burrell said overtime costs would be worth the improvements in safety.
“You’ve got 60,000 people coming downtown,” Burrell said. “I think that’s enough of an economic impact to cover whatever overtime we have to pay somebody to get out there and put those barricades up.”
