Scary stuff…
On any given night, lower Broadway in downtown Nashville is packed with thousands of visitors, hopping around from bar to bar, drinking, listening to live music and just looking for a good time.
Unfortunately in this day and age, that means it’s also a target for people who want to cause pain and chaos, like we saw with the terrorist attack in New Orleans on New Year’s Day when a man drove his truck down a crowded Bourbon Street, killing 14 people before being taken down by police.
And it sounds like a similar event was recently thwarted in Nashville after a man threatened to attack Broadway.
According to WSMV, 53-year old Phillip Anderson Jr. recently posted videos on social media showing himself driving downtown and holding a shotgun, saying that he was going to “find a sniper point” and also use his vehicle to run over people on Broadway.
Metro Nashville Police Department officers were able to track Anderson down and arrested him just a few blocks from Broadway, where he was charged with felony false reporting and possessing a gun while under the influence, as well as DUI and drug possession. Anderson is currently being held at the Davidson County Jail with an $19,000 bond, but is not eligible for release due to a mental health hold.
After his arrest, Anderson’s family expressed concerns about his mental health and issued a plea for help, with his sister Diane Smithey saying that she’s tried to get him treatment with no success – but that she fears he may hurt somebody if he doesn’t get help:
“If they don’t get him the mental healthcare that he needs and get him back on his meds, he will hurt someone. He’s going to hurt someone, whether it be while he’s driving 120 miles an hour down the interstate, or if someone says the wrong thing to him, he will just unleash on them.”
Safety on Broadway has been a priority for Nashville, with the Nashville Department of Transportation announcing recently 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 – or the one that was recently thwarted on Broadway.
