How Atlanta’s new Mercedes-Benz Stadium protects attendees from vehicle attacks
Atlanta’s new $1.5 billion stadium, home to the NFL Atlanta Falcons football team and MLS Atlanta United soccer club and site of the recent NCAA national college football championship, is protecting fans, staff and athletes from terrorists and errant drivers from using vehicles as weapons. While the threat of terrorists planning to attack soft targets, such as stadiums, increases, stadium security professionals must look for the weak points throughout their facilities to determine where fanatics are most likely to assail.
Taking their cue from soft target attacks, security teams and other stadium management understand that the use of vehicles, either to transport those who carry out the attack or act as the bomb itself, is a very real threat. Installed by Tusco (Cottondale, Ala.), using Delta Scientific perimeter protection products, the new access system includes four DSC501 barriers, five DSC720 bollards, 39 DSC2000 barriers and 59 DSC680 fixed bollards.
“We are experienced with installing Delta equipment,” said Brent Martina, president of Tusco. “Mercedes-Benz Stadium was particular about their security needs and protocols and requested a customized sequence of operations for their security equipment. Delta Scientific’s products and experienced engineers made them the obvious choice in meeting both the high quality and technical standards required to integrate with the stadium’s sophisticated security system. It was crucial to have a reliable team in place as we received a very compressed schedule to get everything complete by the first football game and, therefore, had no room for errors.”
Because of long, straight approaches to some access points, stadiums oftentimes need to deploy high performance barriers, at the main entrances where players and VIPs, among others, enter with their cars. The DSC501 is the only K54-certified retractable vehicle barricade in the world. Set in a foundation only 18 inches deep, it will survive and operate after a 5.4-million foot pound impact. That’s equivalent to a 65,000-pound truck hitting it at 50 mph. Stopping the truck or car dead in its tracks, the DSC501 protects against a “second hit” risk from a second vehicle. The stadium preferred installing these barricades in a more industrial look, wanting them to be seen.
This article originally appeared in the July/August 2018 issue of Security Today.