What is a Bollard? What are Bollards? What is the meaning of Bollard?

Looking for the definition of the word “Bollard”? Bollards originally referred to short vertical posts, typically found where large ships dock for mooring. Today, the word now also means a variety of structures used to control pedestrian and vehicular traffic, protect critical infrastructure, provide perimeter highlights, or to define a pathway.

Legend has it that street bollards began life in the 1600’s, and were designed to represent upended canons - utilized as boundary posts and other town markers. They have since evolved into an everyday sight around our supermarkets, restaurants, hotels, shops and stadiums. You will often see various styles of bollards; they tell us which direction to travel in, they protect us from crime, they tell us where we can and cannot park, they add aesthetic features to our offices, they demark walkways and pathways, they sometimes even give us somewhere to sit beside and eat our lunch.

The most common type of bollard is a fixed metal bollard, typically a painted steel post, about 36" high - installed into the ground with concrete. Some bollards are square, but most are cylindrical with a domed, angled, or flat cap. Bollards come in a great variety of sizes, colors, materials, shapes and capabilities. Mountings for these posts are also accomplished by a variety of means; models can be fixed, retractable or removable bollards, or they can act as decorative covers over existing steel pipe Bollards. A full range of aesthetics, from strictly utilitarian to architecturally responsive, is employed in today’s architecture.

While many bollards provide aesthetic benefits, typically metal bollards are used to protect pedestrians and buildings from vehicles; metal bollards provide one of the simplest means of controlling access and providing perimeter defense. They can be anchored in the ground individually, or arranged in a line to close a road for vehicles as part of a larger security system. Stationary metal bollards provide a constant barrier while retractable or removable bollards permit authorized entry.

Bollards generally fall into three types of applications – architectural (decorative), security (impact resistant) or landscaping bollards (perimeter highlights). All Bollards can be used for architectural and landscaping applications, and differ in style, shape, and material. For security applications, the available Bollard selection may be limited by what is needed to be stopped by the Bollard; that is, whether they are to be used as traffic deterrent bollards or whether they are being employed to address a security (impact) issue. Security or impact issues are addressed by first determining how big a vehicle is that may impact the Bollard in question, and how fast could it be traveling when it makes impact.