Rethinking Bollards on Bike Paths

How to get past these barriers on a brand new shared path in the median of Parkway Drive, Marsden Park? Tricky with a bulky e-bike, and impossible with a cargo bike, disability scooter, tricycle or double pram. (Image: CycleSydney)

What does the campaign aim to achieve?

We want three things to happen. 

Firstly, we hope councils and Transport for NSW will remove existing bollards which are redundant and/or unsafe.

But we are also trying to drive systemic change in NSW through a review of the guidelines and standards. Guidelines for active transport infrastructure do not align with standards for bridge design. Engineers and landscape designers still specify bollards by default, even if they are not necessary. They look ugly, they generate complaints from the moment they go in, and they chew up funds that could be spent on nicer things..

“Before any decision is made about adding a terminal treatment to bicycle infrastructure, we want the designer to be required to make a comparison between risk to the user and risk to the asset,” says David Thomson, Advocacy Coordinator at Bike North. 

“Appropriate weight must be given to avoiding personal injury over the cost of repair. The concept is simple. And in some cases, the right outcome will be simply not having ‘protection’ on that minor pedestrian bridge.”

Finally, when bollards are the best solution, a standard design for the terminal treatment, path markings and signage is essential, so path users know what to expect. This would mean that any bollards have a consistent colour, reflective markings, size and spacing.

What we have heard so far

Bicycle NSW Member Belinda came a cropper in Olympic Park in Dec 2020.

“I hit a bollard just before the Olympic Park ferry terminal. It was a grey bollard on a grey path, hidden in the shade of the trees. There was no obvious reason for a random bollard, it was just sitting there in the middle of the path. I must have hit the bollard with my right hand as I broke a bone in my right hand, but it knocked me over and I landed on my left shoulder and the left side of my face.

“Although I was wearing a helmet I was knocked out for several minutes and broke a bone near my left eye and bones in my sinuses,” says Belinda. “I also broke my left collarbone and a rib, and had a punctured lung. After a CT scan I was diagnosed with bleeding inside my skull as well (a subdural haematoma and subarachnoid haemorrhage).

“After five days in hospital, I went home with some impressive bruises which slowly faded over the next six weeks. But the brain injury left me feeling very unwell for a long time. As a consequence of hitting my head I suffered from depression and was only discharged by the psychiatrist at the RPA just before Christmas 2022, almost two years after the accident.

“The dangers of poorly placed and poorly marked bollards are far from theoretical.”

The bollards at each end of the new active transport bridge over the Parramatta River adjacent to the Light Rail are a particular bugbear for Bike North. Bicycle NSW has supported advocacy for these to be removed since the shared path opened in mid-2023.

The bollards at the entrances to the Parramatta Light Rail active transport bridge over the Parramatta River have a reflective strip and simple line markings but they are small, grey and blend into the shadows (Image: Google Maps)

Two Bike North members have been seriously hurt here during on group rides.

Bike North rider John spent 3 days in intensive care after crashing into the bollard on the north side of the Parramatta Light Rail bridge (Image: Bike North)

Another report from this exact spot reiterates the damage that bollards can do:

“I suffered displaced fractures of five ribs on the left-hand side, a small left sided pneumothorax, extensive pneumomediastinum and emphysematous changes of the left chest wall,” writes Claudio. “Atelectasis at both lung bases. Tearing of the tendon on the right index finger. Four days spent in Westmead Hospital and now currently eight weeks recovering from the accident.”

Our log of injuries caused by bollards is here and will be updated regularly.

The NSW hall of shame

Bicycle NSW friends and Members have contributed examples of terrible bollards and other dangerous terminal treatments for our database. You may be familiar with some of these! 

(Clockwise from top left) A BIKEast member after a crash on the Muddy Creek path at Lance Studdert Reserve, Kyeemagh (Image: Adrian Boss); little space for bikes to manoeuvre at the bottom of this bridge ramp in Meadowbank (Image: CycleSydney); the Breakfast Creek shared path in Blacktown has barriers like this at every road intersection (Image: CycleSydney); the narrow shared path linking the popular Wilson St and Bridge St cycleways in Erskineville has several bollards which make access with panniers or a bike trailer very tricky (Image: Alisa Sannikova) 

Bollards come in all shapes and sizes! (Clockwise from top left) A undersized bollard at the entrance to the underpass of Victoria Road, Gladesville (Image: CycleSydney); the entrance to Pamela Avenue, Peakhurst from the Lime Kiln Wetlands shared path (Image: CycleSydney); a very wide bollard in Western Sydney (Image: Cycle Sydney); and an almost invisible grey skinny version on the brand new Alfred Street Bridge in Parramatta (Image: GoogleMaps)

What do official guidelines say about terminal treatments?

Current requirements should be sufficient to ensure that bollards are not placed where they endanger bike riders and other path users.

Guidance around bicycle path terminal treatments is provided in the Austroads Guide to Road Design Part 6A: Paths for Walking and Cycling.  

Section 7.5 sets out the relevant criteria. Terminal treatments should only be used where unauthorised vehicle access may result in damage to path structures, and there is clear evidence of unauthorised access. Where there’s no threat of intrusion by car or truck, there’s no need for any treatment. Treatments are sometimes justified to slow cyclists down before they reach a road crossing but there must be a proven safety issue. 

Treatments must not cause a hazard to cyclists.  

The preferred treatment uses a landscaped median to separate path users travelling in different directions, with fencing at the edge of the paths to effectively prevent vehicles circumventing the restriction.

If Austroads guidance was followed, terminal treatments would look like this! (Image: Austroads, based on a VicRoads design from 2005)

Where agencies are determined to maintain or construct central fixtures in the centre of paths, the need must be justified in every instance. Bollards can create an unacceptable risk to cyclists and should only be used where provision of the preferred treatments is not practicable. And if a bollard is used, it should be 1m high and 300m in diameter.

If bollards are the last resort, why do they keep popping up?

Transport for NSW claims that safety is the top priority but there is clearly misalignment of practice and theory. 

Bike North is investigating whether Austroads Part 6A: Paths for Walking and Cycling is routinely being sidelined by other Australian or NSW standards, such as those relating to bridge design. Is some other document ‘forcing’ designers to specify bollards?

But the most likely reason is status quo bias. Council staff have acknowledged this. Traffic engineers and landscape architects have always specified bollards, and it is hard to change longstanding practices.

Other states have done more to address this challenge 

The Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) has produced a Supplement to Austroads Guide to Road Design Part 6A. Amendments are made to Section 7.5.

“In Queensland, path terminal treatments, in the form of physical barriers, shall not be used to either advise cyclists that there is a road ahead or slow cyclists down…. The preferred method of advising people riding bikes of the road ahead is through the provision of clear sightlines and the use of traditional warning devices, such as signs and pavement markings.”

An escalating three-step approach to access management is to be applied. Signage must be tried to deter vehicles, and it that fails, the path entrance should be redesigned. 

“Physical barriers are to be used as a last resort, where the risk of damage to infrastructure from occasional unauthorised entry exceeds the risk of a permanent hazard to path users.”

Victoria has a similar but less structured approach. The Victorian Supplement to Australian Standard AS 1742.9:2000, Part 9: Bicycle facilities determines that “before a terminal treatment is installed there must be clear evidence that such access is occurring and the treatment must be effective at preventing access by these vehicles.”

David Thomson of Bike North does not feel that a similar variation to Austroads would be adequate to bust bollards in NSW, particularly those installed on bridges. 

“I still have not seen anything requiring that fundamental comparison we seek between risk to the user and risk to the asset,” says David. “All commentary is still from the asset point of view. How do we minimize injury to users but still protect the asset.  Not, ‘if the risk to the user outweighs the risk to the asset, don't install that form of protection!’

"Importantly, there appears to be no guidance at all for designers of walking and cycling bridges on prioritising the safety of users."

Bollards installed at the entrance to bridges that are inaccessible to vehicles. Why are they needed? (Clockwise from top left) Bridge over Memorial Avenue, Kellyville; Smalls Creek shared path, North Kellyville; Shark Park, Woolooware; Powells Creek shared path, Homebush (All images: CycleSydney)

How you can get involved

• Add details of injuries caused by bollards to our database. The form can be found on the Bollard Busting campaign page. Incidents can be backdated. If possible, add an image of the crash site. You can also upload photos of good and bad bollards to support our advocacy for change. 

• Ask your council, parks authority or state government why there are unnecessary bollards despoiling the bike infrastructure. Frame the bollards as a public health and safety risk. Suggest alternatives treatments or contact Bicycle NSW for assistance. 

Bicycle NSW and the BUGs have had a number of advocacy wins in relation to bollards. We shared a Bike North double success in Strathfield. And Illawarra BUG has campaigned to have several terrible terminal treatments removed in Wollongong and Shellharbour council areas.