Our bollard world: St. Louis is increasingly guarded by columns of concrete

Gateway Arch National Park Chief Ranger Mike Horton explains the different types of bollards in the park on Thursday, July 20, 2023. Video by Christine Tannous, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Stylish bollards line the sidwalk outside 500 North Broadway last month in downtown St. Louis.

They’re America’s quiet sentries.

When a young man from Chesterfield was arrested and accused of planning to kill President Joe Biden, he was stopped not by a fence, a dog or a bullet.

His rented vehicle learned that when it’s truck vs. bollard, the bollard wins.

Bollards never leave their posts — because, well, they are posts.

The ubiquitous columns of might often stand in front of banks, utility boxes, sidewalks. They keep cars from ramming through glass-walled buildings, drifting onto pedestrian walkways and targeting federal monuments.

Sai Kandula, seen here next to the U-Haul carrying a swastika flag, is accused of smashing a U-Haul truck into a barrier near the White House around 10 p.m. May 23, 2023, in an effort to “seize power” and “be put in charge of the nation.” Prosecutors included this image in a court filing Friday, May 26,2023.

But since 9/11, the concrete wardens are so common in urban spaces that one might wonder whether their presence is overdone. Why do we need columns of concrete circling our stadiums, gyms and coffee shops?

For the Gateway Arch and Federal Reserve Bank, they are a defense against terrorists. Cannabis dispensaries and stores install bollards to prevent theft. (Sometimes they appear only after a break-in, like closing a barn door after the horse is already out.) Other companies protect flammable materials, parking signs or the sides of garages from poor drivers. Enhanced bollards may include lights for pedestrians and some descend into the ground so vehicles can pass.

The sun illuminates pedestrians walking along a row of bollards outside the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis along Broadway on Tuesday, July 25, 2023, downtown.

“Our society is more aware of problems out there,” says Scott Biondo, head of community security for the Jewish Federation of St. Louis. Bollards can help. He says they are now “used just about everywhere.”

A term traced to 1844 to refer to posts used for mooring, “bollard” has been linked to the word “bole” or tree trunk. Similar safety posts, though, had been in use much earlier as protection from things such as horse-drawn carriages (horses being as fallible as today’s autos).

Today, the most common bollards are often a bright yellow to alert drivers. The average, well-installed bollard may be made of iron, aluminum or other materials, but it is usually a post filled with concrete.

A plastic bollard cover and a traffic sign, lie near two bollards protecting a utility box on North 10th Street. Sometimes signs are inserted into bollards to avoid being knocked over.

Jeff Gau, CEO of St. Louis Paving, often installs bollards on parking lots or other pavement.

The style he works with is usually a metal cylinder that goes 3 feet underground, with an additional 4 feet above the ground. It is then filled with concrete. A plastic cover is often used and comes in various colors beyond the ubiquitous yellow sometimes required by OSHA.

“It’s a stout, strong mechanism,” Gau says. Individual basic bollards run from $500-$1,000, he says. “They can be time-consuming to install,” he says, requiring knowledge of utility lines and the services of a cement truck. Bollards do make effective barriers, he says.

“The bigger the bollard, the more it can protect.”

A California company that markets bollards to high-security sites says some bollards can stop a 15,000-pound truck traveling 50 mph. And bollards that surround federal buildings in Washington have been reported to cost more than $7,000 each.

But not every bollard is created equal, and size isn’t the only factor. Drivers in south St. Louis have chipped or actually knocked large concrete balls off their posts at intersections. The anchors for some have been revealed as only thin poles or stakes — not tall cylinders filled with concrete.

Geometric bollards guide traffic in front of new apartments at the east entrance to The Grove on Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2018. The bollards, a new version of the round balls, were created by Tony Rocca and his crew at AKT Studios. Photo by Robert Cohen, [email protected]

(Although such concrete balls, rocks and other traffic deterrents have been called bollards, some safety experts would simply call them “barriers,” akin to large planters, concrete blocks and the like that also are used to deter vehicles.)

In addition, weaker or removable bollards can look like they have the stuff to stop trucks, but they may not. Most drivers, however, probably don’t want to find out.

Gau notes that bollard demand seems to be rising.

A cannabis store on Watson Road is guarded by bollards from errant vehicles.

A year ago, a series of cannabis dispensaries were damaged by thieves driving stolen or rented vehicles into them. In December, one man was charged with at least four incidents: at a cafe, a medical marijuana dispensary, a gas station and a convenience store.

“Everybody is putting these up to prevent quick burglaries,” Gau says.

For a monument or high-value target, bollards are just part of its defense. The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis at Broadway and Locust streets, won’t disclose details. Asked about its many bollards, it released a single statement: “The St. Louis Fed installed the bollards as a security enhancement after 9/11. They are one of many layers of security at our bank.”

The Gateway Arch is a bit more forthcoming. Since 9/11, it has added more security, increased also with park redesign starting in 2014. Now, the national park has more than 1,000 bollards, says Mike Horton, chief ranger. The sentries are even at the bottom of a long stairway to the grounds from Leonor K. Sullivan Boulevard.

Security officials originally thought the steps were a “good enough” deterrent for vehicles, Horton says. That was until a 4-by-4 driver drove up them and did doughnuts on the park grounds.

Before the park included so many concrete posts, Horton says, it wasn’t uncommon for people to accidentally or purposefully drive onto the Arch grounds. “Maybe once a month,” he says.

Many drivers aren’t sure how to get to the Arch or perhaps don’t realize its wide pathways are for park workers only. On a recent visit, a transgressing moped rider was stopped by a ranger.

The Arch grounds need to allow emergency vehicles and landscapers access, so some of its bollards can be lowered hydraulically via key cards or by remote control so emergency vehicle drivers can get into the park.

“Fire departments are familiar with access points,” Horton says.

The stationary posts on the Arch grounds tend to be made of wide, discreet concrete and are even attached underground to neighboring bollards. That gives them added support, he says.

What also makes them special, however, is that they mostly blend in with their surroundings.

“We want the areas where visitors come in to be welcoming,” Horton says.

Beautifying bollards

Bollards are connected with chains on North Euclid Avenue in the Central West End.

The Arch’s bollards generally fit well with the park, says an urban planning professor, and such integration is usually a goal for major projects.

“They need to look nice,” says Bob Lewis, who teaches at St. Louis University.

He finds fences more offensive than bollards. “Much of SLU is fenced off,” he says. “It says ‘you’re not allowed in here.’ Bollards give you more opportunity to come in.”

Some buildings’ security methods are so off-putting that they can affect business, Lewis says, pointing to guard-like towers once installed at a Kansas City-area mall.

“It looked like a prison.” The tower highlighted crime problems at Bannister Mall, which eventually closed. Lewis also criticizes bars and cages over windows and doors as indicating danger.

Bollards can be protective, while remaining “pourous to let people in and out,” he says.

They are usually set far enough apart to allow bicycles and wheelchair access but close enough to prevent cars from coming through.

Bollards can be “comforting in some ways,” Lewis says, but “you don’t want to make it prominent that ‘we’re expecting to be hurt’ here.”

Around the world, the posts have been made with things like old cannons or painted to look like fishermen, animals or pencils. Some bloggers highlight special bollards while the entertaining “World Bollard Association” tweets photos and videos of things like luxury cars that end up disabled by a sturdy pole.

“Even by our high standards, this is truly spectacular,” it captions a photo of an apparent three-car pileup among stubby bollards that calmly remain unharmed.

The government’s General Services Administration advocates for attractive and conscientious bollard planning.

Dora Divine sits for a photo with her daughter on the bull and bear statue outside the Stifel headquarters where bollards line the sidewalk at Washington Avenue and Broadway on Tuesday, July 25, 2023, in downtown St. Louis.

“Sleek aluminum bollards in front of a Beaux-Arts federal building will detract from the historic character of the building and its environs,” it says. It acknowledges the growth of bollard use:

“Often an afterthought or quick fix, with little or no design and architectural integration with the site, bollards are overused in today’s landscape. Long lines of repeating bollards can be monotonous, unattractive, and visually obtrusive. Where possible, designers should consider hardening other required site elements, such as lampposts, walls, or benches, to perform double duty. These items can be layered with bollards, blending more efficiently into the existing landscape.”

An example of bollards as part of layered security can be observed at the soccer stadium in Downtown West. About 180 steel-covered modern bollards surround the stadium, which also has stairs, landscaping and solid concrete benches before reaching the entrance.

A design team selected the bollards’ look, says Jason Thein, chief operating officer of St. Louis City SC.

“Bollards are a part of a set of best practices to provide stadium perimeter security and safety while having their own complementary design and function,” he said by email. “Our bollards work in tandem with concrete ‘seat walls’ to provide security while creating a welcoming site perimeter which allows for optimal pedestrian flow and aesthetics.”

Although “safety and security” may seem redundant, Scott Biondo at the Jewish Federation notes “safety” bollards used to refer to an accident with a car (perhaps a distracted driver or someone who hit the accelerator rather than a brake). Now, groups are wary of cars purposefully used to run down pedestrians (a recent case involving migrants in North Carolina is believed to be “intentional assault”).

Large bollards with lights guard a building at the Jewish Community Center on Millstone Campus Drive.

Biondo points to other cases in Charlottesville and cities such as Paris: “Once you have any major incident, there is a closer look.” London often uses bollards as security against vehicles with bombs. This is where bollards are security measures.

He notes that all buildings within the Jewish Federation he works with are conscious of security because the community is counted as vulnerable to hate crimes. “We would not build a building any longer in this community that did not have barriers,” he says. The key to not going overboard with security is to get a professional threat assessment, Biondo says.

“But I think most people don’t really notice bollards,” he says.

Until they do. At the new Bass Pro Shop in Sunset Hills is an interesting case study. An apparent rain garden sits in the parking lot, surrounded by large rocks. The rocks are surrounded by a metal fence. The fence itself is protected from parked cars by yellow bollards.

Biondo wryly acknowledges that some security advocates can go overboard: “In my line of work, I’d put you in a castle with a drawbridge and moat if I could.”

And maybe bollards to protect the moat.

“If they can’t get in with a burglary, they're going to be emboldened, walk in and hold the place up,” said Festus police Chief Tim Lewis.

Prosecutors charged Zavion McGee, 18, with two counts each of second-degree burglary, stealing and property damage for burglaries at a cafe and a medical marijuana dispensary in the Central West End.

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Gateway Arch National Park Chief Ranger Mike Horton explains the different types of bollards in the park on Thursday, July 20, 2023. Video by …