The last two decades have seen the emergence of countless bollards manufacturers, their products now dotting big city streetscapes and small town squares across the globe. But what makes these providers different from one another? Which producer is right for your project? 

If you’re searching for a bollards manufacturer for your upcoming project, use this no-nonsense resource to learn the essential facts about the top bollards brands in business today.

BollardsUSA

Why wouldn’t we put ourselves first? Manufactured and shipped directly from our facility in Middlesboro, Kentucky, BollardsUSA emerged as an American-made option in a largely foreign-sourced market. Offering industry leading customization in addition to a strong inventory of standard cast iron and stainless and powder-coated steel, our brand is trusted by municipal and corporate entities across the U.S. to supply high-quality decorative bollards. All this, coupled with full-circle customer support and sustainable manufacturing practices inherent in domestic production. 

• Where they are made: Middlesboro, Kentucky
• Shipping capabilities: Continental
• Sustainable production: Yes, LEED-certified recycled material
• Customizability: Yes
• Custom color options: Yes
• Removable options: Yes

Reliance Foundry

Owned and operated out of Surrey, British Columbia, Reliance Foundry Co. Ltd. has cemented itself as one of North America’s largest and most experienced suppliers of architectural site furnishings, traffic management products and industrial fixtures. With well over 200 listed bollard products, Reliance’s inventory includes crash-resistant series as well as removable and decorative options.

• Where are they made: China, with some limited North American production
• Shipping capabilities: Worldwide
• Sustainable production: No
• Customizability: Offers consultation
• Custom color options: Yes
• Removable options: Yes

1-800-Bollards

Headquartered in Farmington Hills, Michigan, 1-800-Bollards has collected over a decade of experience in providing architectural and performance-rated bollards for major industries around the world. Possessing one of the largest inventories in the bollard industry, this woman-owned manufacturer offers over 400 different styles of products including high-security, removable and stainless steel options. 

• Where are they made: Unknown
• Shipping capabilities: Worldwide
• Sustainable production: No
• Customizability: Offers consultation
• Custom color options: No
• Removable options: Yes

McCue Corporation

Founded in 1988 and headquartered in Danvers, Massachusetts, McCue Corporation gained initial success with their kick-off of the “cart-stop,” a damage mitigation product found in big box retail stores. Through the next two decades, McCue expanded operations to include retail and industrial solutions. With the release of their “CrashCore” bollard line, the global manufacturer emerged as a full-service manufacturer, distributor and installer of crash-rated products. 

• Where are they made: Unknown 
• Shipping capabilities: Worldwide 
• Sustainable production: No
• Customizability: No
• Custom color options: No
• Removable options: No

Delta Scientific

Designed and manufactured out of their Palmdale, California facility, Delta Scientific has specialized in high-security vehicle control equipment for almost 50 years. Delta offers protective bollards meeting every ASTM safety rating tier, but its inventory extends beyond that to include a wide array of impact-resistant products. In-house mechanical and electrical engineers round out Delta’s team.

• Where are they made: Palmdale, California
• Shipping capabilities: Worldwide
• Sustainable production: Unknown
• Customizability: Yes, custom sleeves available
• Custom color options: Yes, custom sleeves available
• Removable options: Yes

Grainger

Known as a leading provider of miscellaneous industrial supplies, Grainger has recently emerged as a niche distributor of decorative stone bollards. With 75 ASTM crash-rated options, as well as non-rated decorative product lines, the Lake Forest, Illinois-based distributor offers stone barriers, planters and sports-based options as well as off-the-shelf fixed and removable steel bollards. 

• Where are they made: United States 
• Shipping capabilities: Worldwide 
• Sustainable production: No, distributor-only
• Customizability: No
• Custom color options: No
• Removable options: Yes

Atkore Calpipe

Atkore Calpipe manufactures and distributes its wide inventory of protective and architectural bollards from a facility in Downey, California. Removable series can be chosen from manual, assisted or automatic mounts as well as external padlocking fixtures. 

• Where are they made: Downey, California 
• Shipping capabilities: Worldwide 
• Sustainable production: Yes
• Customizability: Yes, custom sleeves available
• Custom color options: Limited selection
• Removable options: Yes

Traffic Guard

Traffic Guard has manufactured bollards in Sycamore, Illinois since 1999. Domestically produced, the manufacturer claims several product lines from removable and collapsible to fixed and parking series.  

• Where are they made: Sycamore, Illinois 
• Shipping capabilities: National 
• Sustainable production: Unknown
• Customizability: No 
• Custom color options: Limited selection
• Removable options: Yes

Let’s talk options

Still need more help vetting bollards providers for your next project? The experts at BollardsUSA can help you sort out what matters — and what doesn’t — as you search for the provider with the right price, right timeline and right level of customer service for your next project.

Contact us now.

As a domestic manufacturer in an industry dominated by foreign providers, sourcing bollards from BollardsUSA includes inherent benefits in buying American. From shorter and more predictable lead and shipping times to sustainable production and industry-leading quality control, let’s break down why buying American-made should be the only option considered.

(But before you buy, you might need a hand thinking through product specification. This guide covers it in detail.)

Control costs and preserve timelines

While offshore production may include cost benefits due to cheaper labor and lax safety regulations, these are offset by higher shipping costs because of the distance to the end-user. An often-overlooked aspect of foreign production, sourcing internationally inherently results in slower, less predictable shipping and lead times. 

Take, for example, the Suez Canal blockage of March 2021. The Ever Given, a 1,500-foot container ship, prevented the passage of over 300 vessels through the canal, temporarily halting a significant percentage of global trade. The fallout was severe, “strain(ing) supply lines already stretched by Covid,” possibly delaying international supply chains for several months and surging costs to account for lost time.  

Other factors, such as recent increases on foreign steel tariffs introduced by the Trump administration, have only increased the cost of imported products, such as foreign-sourced stainless steel bollards. 

Limited solely by domestic trade regulations and cushioned by the relative predictability of domestic shipping, sourcing American-made bollards removes uncertainty and adds resilience. 

BollardsUSA offers a two-part delivery system designed to benefit project laborers and planners alike. With this unique system, we can have mounts and pipes delivered to project sites within a few days, allowing for early installation. 

Part one – We’ll deliver mounts and pipes first — within just a few days of your order — so you can proactively install these components without delay.

Part two – Bollard sleeves arrive in a second shipment. With mounts and pipes already installed, sleeve installation is a breeze.

Two-part delivery allows you to make the most efficient use of your installation crew’s time, ultimately reducing total time on-site and, in turn, total project cost. 

As an added measure of quality control, this delivery system also allows end users to identify any required replacement parts. In turn, we supply replacement parts along with the second delivery.

Ensure sustainable manufacturing

Purchasing American-made products intrinsically equates to supporting greener solutions to manufacturing. While foreign products are often cheaper, factors such as the environmental costs of ocean freight are not often accounted for in the total cost of a product. 

Outside the lawful jurisdiction of any one government, global shipping has grown to produce “nearly 3% of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions…roughly the same carbon footprint as Germany.”  And, although domestic providers claim sustainable foreign manufacturing of products, their claims often ignore the environmental cost of product transportation. 

In truth, the least environmentally damaging procurement method is buying from a domestic manufacturer that utilizes regional raw material sources. This allows the buyer to tighten the supply chain from material source to manufacturer to end-user, minimizing environmental impact while strengthening the domestic economy as a bonus. 

At BollardsUSA, we believe that sustainable manufacturing is as good for business as it is the planet. Eighty-four percent of material used to produce our cast iron bollards is recycled, meeting LEED criteria for Materials and Resources Credit 4: Recycled Content. By sourcing from regional steel mills that utilize 82 to 99% of recycled production, our steel and cast iron products ensure a full-circle sustainable approach to manufacturing.

Increase product quality

An often-overlooked consequence of sourcing foreign products is a lack of quality control from manufacturer to end-user. When you purchase BollardsUSA products, you receive a direct line to our team. Manufacturers sourcing from outside of the United States often utilize third party customer service providers or unreliable automated systems. 

Simply put, talking to a human shouldn’t be such a tall order. With us, it’s not.

Further, with significantly shorter shipping distances, a domestic provider can deliver replacement parts under the possibility of initial part failure. With BollardsUSA’s two-tiered delivery system in mind, replacements can be shipped within the second shipment. Therefore, the issue can be corrected quicker than a foreign provider could even deliver its first shipment.

Support the American workforce

When you buy American, that ripples outward in support of American industries and American workers.  

But it also introduces the intrinsic benefits of domestic sourcing:

• Faster lead times
• Lower shipping costs
• Better timeline predictability
• Exceptional customer service
• Environmental stewardship

If you want your project to be good for business and good for the country, let’s talk about buying American-made from BollardsUSA.

Bollards are everywhere.

Some offer protection to public buildings. Some separate vehicle and pedestrian traffic. Some are purely visual, providing architectural definition to common spaces like plazas and parks.

Because these versatile fixtures must serve in a wide variety of functions, they cannot all be alike. And that can make it difficult for the specifiers or buyers responsible for sourcing the right product for their project.

To help guide you through the specification process, we’ve summarized four factors all buyers and specifiers should consider. For a more in-depth and holistic look at bollard specification, read this guide.

Functionality

Crash-rated and fixed? Or aesthetic and removable? A different combination entirely? Deciding the overall function of your bollards is paramount in specifying the right product for your project. 

First and foremost, does your project call for crash-rated bollards designed to keep pedestrians safe in close proximity to cars and trucks? While stock product lines can be installed with an additional security pipe for enhanced vehicular protection, specifying crash-rated products is an entirely different process altogether. 

Crash-rated bollards are specified for enhanced, measurable protection of people or structures. They’re most commonly found guarding the main entrances of government buildings, other public institutions or some private facilities and are engineered to meet very specific criteria. But while aesthetics have historically been absent from crash-rated bollard specification, some providers are capable of adding visual appeal to these fixtures to ensure they weave into the fabric of the spaces they inhabit more naturally. 

Removable bollards, such as those with our newly patented Twist & Lock mount, offer a unique, additional functionality to our product lines. Allowing for easy removal, these mounts provide the ability to dynamically change the flow of the surrounding area. For example, one day the bollards can be placed to give restaurants and small businesses additional storefront space for extra pedestrian traffic, and removed the next for vehicular traffic or parking space.

Often a product calls for permanent, fixed bollards, while others call for removable options, and there is a desire for the aesthetics of these types to match. As a rare feature, our bollard product line offers varied installation hardware for the same bollard design, allowing all bollards in a specific project to appear the same while serving different functions.  

In this case study, read how our removable bollards helped a small Indiana town develop a dynamic multi-use streetscape and public space designed to allow for vehicular traffic one day and pedestrians the next.

Aesthetic appeal and sourcing materials

The purpose of a row of bollards is deeper than just keeping pedestrians safe and minimizing property damage. These fixtures are a reflection of the spaces they occupy, so how they appear to the public eye (for better or worse) leaves an impression.

After all, bollards are highly visible objects. Their design is defined by their immediate function, but with a little imagination, specifiers and architects can push the bounds of aesthetic appeal by determining the feel surrounding the needs of their project.

Campus bollards for carpool lines and the safety of students, for instance, differ in design than those made for industrial buildings with seldom foot traffic. And though tourist areas such as ballparks and museums might require the structural integrity to stop a moving vehicle, they lend more opportunity for a statement to be made, since they will be frequented yearly. Cemeteries are places of remembrance, so they, too, demand bollards that capture the stylistic integrity of their landscape.

In accordance with minimizing our carbon footprint, BollardsUSA is committed to sourcing regionally repurposed materials including recycled railroad steel. Most of our products are made of at least 84% recycled materials. That means that our bollards can help contribute to achieving your desired project LEED score and play a part in the fight against the deterioration of the environment.

Environmental factors

The responsibility of planning your project’s footer design, utility markings and other preparatory site work often falls on the contractor, but architects ought to consider these factors when choosing bollards, too.

Areas with pre-existing concrete offer a healthy base for decorative or surface mounting bollards. They also reduce installation costs by eliminating expensive site work requirements such as clearing the area of debris, engineering a new pavement foundation and pouring new concrete. 

Certain surfaces, such as asphalt, do not provide a good surface for any bollard installation due to certain factors. When working with these types of surfaces, a concrete footing would need to be poured for any type of bollard to assure a structurally sound installation. 

Other, deeper installation methods can also run the risk of imposing on underground infrastructure like water service lines or irrigation piping. Thorough knowledge of the area is required before installation. If you are considering a deep-mounted, crash-rated bollard and haven’t done a utility survey yet, now’s the time.

Refer to our commonly asked questions guide for an in-depth breakdown of installation costs, including primary costs and extraneous factors.

Customizability

Often secondary in concern when compared to installation area and product function, bollard customizability is an easy way to make fixtures stand out among the surrounding area or fit in perfectly with the color and theme of its environment. 

BollardsUSA services, such as product logo casting and color matching, can help connect your bollards with the community around them. When you partner with BollardsUSA, our design and engineering teams can supply CAD drawings, 3-D product renderings and physical color decks to ensure that you are receiving the perfect product for your outdoor space. 

At BollardsUSA, we know that it is often vital to speak directly with a member of our team during the specification process, especially regarding product customization. In order to create a seamless buying experience, our team is available to help construct a vision of the right product for you, in real-time, from the very beginning.

At BollardsUSA, we make it easy

We know how difficult it is to find information ready for specification. Browse our product page to access 1) installation and product CAD drawings and 2) a three-part Guide Spec written to CSI standards. All available for download to help ease your project planning.

Additionally, our team of experts is ready to speak one-on-one to help guide you through the process. Whether you are starting from scratch or already have an ideal product in mind, we will be there to help from the first call until your bollards are in the ground. 

Contact us now and talk to a real person right away. Call 1-502-554-1178.