New Orleans and tourists skied down Bourbon Street, hiked to nearby restaurants that were still open and had snowball fights in the French Quarter on Tuesday to mark the city's heaviest snowfall in decades.

The terrorist attack brought some relief to the city on New Year's Day when a driver of a pickup truck plowed into a crowd on Bourbon Street, killing 14 people and injuring dozens more.

But the winter storm brought up to 10 inches of snow to parts of New Orleans and meant increased workload for city and state workers.

Local interstate highways and the Lake Pontchartrain Levee Bridge were closed due to ice and snow. Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry posted on X urging people to stay off the roads and make way for first responders. "I want everyone to be safe and warm at home with a big pot of soup," he said.

Colin Arnold, director of the New Orleans Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, said at a press conference Tuesday afternoon that the city has brought in 14 snowplows to prioritize clearing roads near local hospitals.

"There's going to be a lot of recovery in terms of roads over the next few days," he said.

Although no snow is expected for the rest of the week, temperatures are expected to remain below freezing Thursday. The city's public schools remained closed Wednesday and were expected to close Thursday.

Meanwhile, there's more work to be done before the Super Bowl, which is expected to bring more than 125,000 revelers to the area in less than three weeks.

Michael Hecht, Super Bowl state infrastructure coordinator, said some contractors over the weekend were trying to prepare ahead of Tuesday's storm. Crews are working on paving and lighting installation projects in the French Quarter as the city prepares for cooler temperatures.

Planners aim to complete as many projects as possible by Jan. 31, since some tourists will start arriving as early as Feb. 1, he said. The city's timeline takes into account weather delays, but work needs to resume by 2019, he said. Much of the work is still expected to be completed on Thursday remaining items.

"To say we can land aircraft doesn't mean we wouldn't prefer a slightly longer runway," Hecht said.

Jay Cicero, chairman of the Super Bowl host committee, said in a statement that he was "confident that the teams on site will complete these preparations on time and within the original schedule."

Winter storms have brought hardship to major southern cities in recent years. A crisis in Texas in 2021 left millions of energy customers without power, killing more than 200 people. That year's severe freeze also left many residents and businesses in Jackson, Mississippi, and Shreveport, Louisiana, without running water.

So far, New Orleans has experienced only a few power outages and no major problems with its water supply. But some leaders are concerned about the situation for some of the most vulnerable New Orleanians.

Last week, the state closed homeless encampments near the Superdome under Landry's emergency order. Several of them were sent to temporary shelters, warehouses located a few miles away.

Landry described it as an effort to protect the city's homeless population as well as the city. "As we begin to welcome the world to New Orleans for Super Bowl LIX and Mardi Gras, providing homeless people with a humane and safe shelter is essential," he said in a statement. “In the best interest of every citizen’s safety and security.” 13. But some New Orleans officials and advocates say the use of temporary warehouse facilities hurts their efforts to provide long-term housing.

Slim Goodies Diner in the city's Uptown neighborhood was one of the few local restaurants still open on Tuesday.

The restaurant was one of the first to open in the city after Hurricane Katrina and was known for weathering the storm ahead of evacuation orders and welcoming customers back early once the storm subsided.

“We’re known for always staying open, no matter what,” said owner Deborah Schumacher.

For Hecht, snow is just one more thing that keeps the city alive and provides a sense of humor.

"We've become a little tired of the word 'resiliency' in this city because it's so overused and sometimes seems to be an excuse for a lack of preparedness," he said. "But in this case, we'll be fine."