concrete bollards Concrete bollards in front of the South Plains College building

Concrete Bollards are a smart, attractive way to protect structures and entrances.

concrete sphere bollards. Concrete sphere bollard

South Plains College in Levelland, TX, recently installed nine concrete bollards from the Park and Facilities Catalog.

Those bollards are 12 inches in diameter and 30 inches in height. They were manufactured with reinforced concrete and given added strength with a ¼-inch by 3/8-inch steel rebar. Each bollard weighs approximately 295 pounds.

Located in front of the college, the bollards are low enough so that they don't obstruct any views of the building, yet positioned strategically to prevent any vehicle from accidentally running into the entrance.

"We added the bollards for a protective barrier from head-on traffic of the front entrance to the building in the main parking lot," said Brian Gerstenberger from the college. "The bollards are great. Shipping was great. There was no damage. They were easy to install, and they are an overall good product."

South Plains College is a community college with an enrollment of about 9,900 students that serves a 14-county area in the southern part of the Texas high plains. The school offers a wide range of innovative educational programs in arts, science, technical education, continuing education, and workforce development.

Bollards originally used on docks to secure ships

Incidentally, many older bollards appear to have the same type of shape and design. The reason for this is because originally in the 1700 and 1800s, people buried old cannons, muzzle down, into the ground to create a protective barrier.

Bollards were actually first used on docks to moor ships.

Then the bollards were placed along streets to prevent wayward horse-drawn buggies from running into pedestrians.

Today more and more government buildings and stores are adding concrete bollards to protect public spaces.

Concrete bollards offer many options

concrete bollards Concrete bollards available in a variety of colors and finishes

One of the preferred choices are concrete bollards (also known as cement bollards, although cement is just one of the materials used in manufacturing the product).

These bollards don't need to be just boring grey posts.

With concrete bollards, there are several aesthetic options.

For example, choose surfaces such as Standard Acid Wash, Exposed or Weatherstone.

The difference is in the granularity of the texture from fine to rough.

You can also choose different colors such as white, buff, sand, gray, brick red, brown and charcoal.

Concrete bollards can be ordered in different shapes - from standard posts to square or sphere-shaped designs.

If you really want to get creative with parking bollards, these products can be ordered in the shape of baseballs, basketballs, footballs or soccer balls.

There are plenty of other alternatives to concrete, such as metal bollards or plastic bollards. You can even order posts with lights. And for certain instances where you mainly want to delineate an area but not provide rigid posts, there is the option for flexible bollards.

If aesthetics are an issue, facility managers can purchase attractive bollard covers as a colorful alternative. Or, to cover bollards that are scuffed or appear aged over the years. Bright yellow bollard sleeves are popular because they are highly visible.

One thing is certain. If there is a busy area near a building that could be impacted by a car or truck from the road, install concrete bollards and protect both pedestrians and the structure itself.