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To Protect Pedestrians, Install More Bollards

One Billion Bollards

July 26, 2021

By Charles Marohn

Read More: https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/...llion-bollards

Quote:

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Construction workers deserve to be protected from errant vehicles that leave the roadway. So do people waiting at traffic signals. So do people walking on sidewalks. So do people living normal lives that routinely force them to stand mere feet away from vehicles traveling at lethal speeds. America needs a billion bollards. There is no coherent argument against lining every street in America with them.

- It is the least we can do to correct the massive asymmetry of risk experienced on our nation’s streets by people outside of a vehicle. If licensed professionals placing breakaway poles in sidewalks isn’t institutionalized gross negligence, at the very least, then what is it? If transportation professionals refuse to put up bollards to protect people from the violence of an errant vehicle, how is this not abetting the slaughter of thousands every year? I have no satisfactory answer to those questions. I know none that do. If the federal government wants to fund transportation, skip the megaprojects. Start with a billion bollards. There is nothing we can do that will save more lives, and few things that will put us in a better position to build strong towns.

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I agree, I love bollards. I do think though that materials need to be considered that won't pose long term maintenance headaches like the cast aluminum poles painted gloss black that turn flat chalky black in two years and then decide to start throwing off the finish altogether in sheets.

Absent consideration of costs, I love bollards.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Busy Bee (Post 9358441)

Agreed.

I'm thinking cut stone, like granite blocks. Not cheap though.

Cars parked along the sides of the road are much cheaper than bollards. More parallel parking also helps reduce the need for parking lots and garages, allowing them to be redeveloped, filling in the gaps, and increasing the density and thus the walkability of a city.

In the US, liability seems to be a huge issue with bollards...liability that a car might get damaged or a driver might get hurt.

That's how screwed up our liability laws are.