City of Mobile looking into grant funding to purchase bollards for downtown

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) -The city of Mobile is looking into a $3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration to purchase its own bollards for downtown Mardi Gras events.

Mobile added bollards downtown during Mardi Gras after the deadly 2025 terror attack in New Orleans to make the area safer for pedestrians. City officials and people downtown said they’ve been glad to have them the last couple of years.

“I think it’s gone great. You give pedestrian their right of way, but you still have traffic that can flow through. Everybody’s happy,” Harrison Hawke said.

“It’s been great because it helps law enforcement improve our responses to concerns but it also gives the community something they see and they feel that added layer of comfort,” said Curtis Graves, executive director of public safety.

The city has borrowed the bollards from Tuscaloosa over the last couple of years, but Graves said that hasn’t been cheap.

“That was a costly expenditure only because we were responsible for those bollards during transport and one of those bollards had to be towed,” Graves said.

Graves said it’s unclear how many bollards the grant would buy because the city is still looking into different types.

“I would love for us to have something that we could put in ground however our problem is that often times we find ourselves hitting water quite easily because of where we are,” Graves said.

Graves said they’re looking at what kind of bollards would be most beneficial and what could be used at a moment’s notice.

“I think this city thrives itself on its tourism and attractions and many attractions to the tourists would be it’s safe down here so I think the less you can have traffic come down here and threaten or put people walking on the sidewalks in jeopardy that’s better,” Hawke said.