A lot of people might not know what a bollard is by name, but most people have seen them while driving.
Bollards are short posts that are used by construction crews, police, and anyone else who has need to guide traffic in a certain direction or to block off areas and protect them from a vehicle entering.
These posts might not seem like much, but they are manufactured in a way to withstand a significant amount of forceful impact. Some bollards can be used as decorative barriers as well.
They might be seen outside of a building or to add a touch to a landscape design.
Use History
Since their invention, bollards have been used for various purposes. They used to be used as fastening applications, but not so much anymore.
Now, bollards are generally only used for building compliments or to manage the flow of vehicle traffic.
Decorative ornamentation
When bollards are used more as decoration, their shape can take on a whole new life. Their features and designs are altered to fit the specific look of an area or building where they are being placed outside of
Although decorative, they have been used to help reinforce the design or planning of several types of buildings. Unlike some of the other types of bollards, decorative bollards can have assorted colors, weight, textures, or shapes, because they are not always meant for a practical use but a decorative one.
Visual Barriers
Bollards are often used with a more practical purpose when it comes to traffic situations. They are generally placed in areas that need to restrict the flow of traffic or block off a certain area from vehicle traffic altogether, like say to block off a pedestrian walk way.
If they are used properly, these barriers can not only regulate vehicle traffic, but they are also able to provide drivers with a clear line of sight to areas that are meant for heavy pedestrian flow.
Specialized Applications
Other than the basic bollards, there are specialized bollards that are designed specifically for special purposes.
They still act in traditional manners, but they are designed especially for their individual purposes. Below are three of the several types of specialized bollards and their uses.
• Bike Parking Bollards: These types of bollards were designed for integrated communities and urban neighborhoods. Sometimes regular bollards can be turned into a bike parking bollard by adding specialized pieces to them, as well. Generally, these are used to help with the storage of bicycles and to help segment pedestrian and vehicle traffic from biker traffic.
• Light Bollards: These types of bollards are often seen in places where pedestrians often traffic in early hours or at night. They have lighting fixtures placed in them that help increase a pedestrian’s visibility, and generally, designers will used solar powered lighting fixtures to maximize on energy and not have to worry about additional conduits or wiring issues.
• Removeable, retractable, & collapsible bollards: There are some areas that only need to be blocked off from vehicle traffic at certain times. These types of bollards are designed with special parts that allow them to either be retracted, collapsed, or completely removed when the time comes for these changes. They are often times used in areas where vehicle access changes frequently from day to day or perhaps even seasonally.
Physical Protection
Traditional bollards are designed to withstand high-impact vehicle collisions. In order to make these bollards more visual, they are sometimes decorated with specific designs or patterns to make sure that they are visible to oncoming and ongoing vehicle traffic.