AST Digital Magazine September 2017 AST Digital Magazine September 2017 | Page 12

Volume 16
The Risk of Installing Standard Bollards
in Urban Areas
Major cities host a labyrinth of utilities, some-
times only a couple of feet underground.
September 2017 Edition
In some areas, relocating utilities is not an op-
tion. For example, in metropolitan New York City,
there are areas where the density of existing
utilities—both known and unknown—makes re-
locating utilities impossible.
Sewer, gas, water, cable and electrical lines pose
potential planning headaches for architects, and
offer worst-case-scenario outcomes if improperly
accounted for.
Even with existing utility maps, and the aid of util-
ity locators, it can be difficult to know with 100
percent certainty where all utility lines lie in a giv-
en metropolitan area.
The cost of repairing damaged utility lines or re-
locating these utilities to make way for bollards
can grow into the tens of thousands of dollars.
In addition to utility lines, a number of other un-
derground obstructions can limit excavation, in-
cluding parking garages, subway systems and
mechanical equipment.
In a class by itself, the XT-2200 Retractable Bollard com-
bines the anti-ram security and compact design attributes of
a shallow mount wedge barrier with the versatility and style of
a bollard. (Photo provided by Ross Technology)
In those instances, the chance of damaging a
utility line is too great to take the risk of installing
standard retractable bollards.
For scenarios like these, there is only one retract-
able bollard solution: the XT-2200 Heald Raptor
Bollard.
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