People who work near Jackson Square say they constantly see 18-wheeler's get stuck trying to navigate the French Quarter, but Monday was a first- a flat bed truck drove across Jackson Square.
"All of the sudden we heard this big commotion and everyone is going 'oh my god look at that'" witness Shane Riley said.
Just after 9:30 a.m. a flat bed truck attempted to make the turn from Chartres Street onto St. Peters Street. Chris Esteve, the General Manager of Tableau, played the incident back on his security cameras.
"Looking at the length of that trailer though there's no shot he could make that corner," Esteve said.
He and his customers deal with large trucks attempting to drive through the Quarter often.
"I'd say we see this several times a week," Esteve said. "If you're sitting upstairs on the balcony and this is happening below you it's a little nerve racking wondering if these guys are gonna take the balcony out."
While trucks often get stuck trying to make the corner, the driver's solution was a surprise to everyone.
"I've not seen them drive across the square, that's a first for us," Esteve said.
Witnesses said it was a risky decision.
"He was going at a high rate of speed, I thought he was gonna kill someone and when he hit those steps the whole load went up in the air," Riley said.
Witness Mandi Malbroue agreed.
"It was probably going around 20-25 miles an hour zooming right through and there's all kinds of people walking through, so it was kinda dangerous the way he was going across," Malbroue said.
Business owners and employees wish the city would do more to prevent trucks from using the French Quarter as their route.
"It's really dangerous and I think they really do need to enforce the law that trucks can't pass through this part of the quarter," Malbroue said.
The city does have an ordinance that buses over 31 feet are prohibited in the interior streets of the French Quarter and drivers can face a $500 fine.
Lauren Bale can be reached at lbale@wwltv.com.