[{"category": "bollards", "text": "

Bollards

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By far, the most common anti-terror security barrier is the bollard, a short, extremely reinforced, vertical post. Originally, bollards referred only to the post on a boat or dock for attaching a mooring rope. Today, bollards refer to steel or cement posts engineered to prevent cars and trucks from intentionally or unintentionally entering or breaching retail structures or pedestrian areas like open-air markets and promenades. Bollard pipes or cylinders are highly visible structural steel pipes anchored in the ground so as to provide protection from moving vehicles and car-ramming attacks or vehicle as a weapon – VAW - attacks.

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Bollard posts, sometimes called pipe bollards, are available in several materials, including cement, metal and composites. Some bollard suppliers offer steel bollard poles filled with cement for additional stopping power. Lighted bollards are illuminated for safety precautions and easy detection at night, especially where vehicle traffic is present.

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Full Metal Jacket

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Bollard systems range from rather raw looking steel pipes or cement pillars that you might find at a loading dock where the primary goal is to protect the store’s infrastructure to exceedingly attractive polished metals and alloys that can house aesthetic and safety lighting and adorn the front entrance to a five-star hotel or prestigious government building like the UN.

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Cosmetic Differences

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More finished outer coverings can be achieved inexpensively using a variety of sleeve materials including ionized metal, polished alloys and plastics. Sleeves are both protective and visually enhancing. Think of a sleeve like you would a veneer for your tooth or dental implant. The key is a pleasing appearance overlaid on an incredibly strong protective structure. Unlike veneers, bollard sleeves come in a multitude of colors to match exterior building designs.

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Bollards “To Go”

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Bollards are typically permanently fixed in place but some manufacturers offer arrays of removable bollardsengineered for quick roadway/sidewalk installation in controlling vehicular traffic and pedestrian migrations during special events like parades, marches, protests as well as access to park and recreational area entrances. Street bollards by design allow pedestrian access while preventing vehicular incursion. These are frequently seen in retail districts with heavy vehicular traffic proximate to pedestrian populations.

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Driver Safety

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Similar to these traffic products are road safety bollards that can warn or corral cars and trucks away from dangerous roadway hazards like construction, drop-offs, cliff edges or waterways/

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Crash Zone

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One of the main reasons bollards for sale are so ever present in the protective design industry is that vehicle crashes into buildings occur approximately 60 times a day, causing nearly 500 deaths and 3600 injuries annually (ABC News). The majority of locations for these violent crashes are retail stores and restaurants, with another 29% involving commercial and office spaces.

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Affordable Solution

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Given the frequency and severity of these accidents, bollards offer an extremely affordable security solution to protecting pedestrians and property like storefronts. These protective bollards mitigate building damage by preventing vehicles from reaching or breaching the storefront perimeter. Most importantly, the low cost, high impact absorption of bollards makes saving lives effective and efficient.

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Accelerating Danger

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The pace of attacks using motor vehicles, whether carrying explosives are not, is accelerating. These tragic incidents have increased dramatically in the years following the September 11th attack as heightened security measures have systematically disrupted and prevented terrorists from gaining access to explosives and airliners.

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Think Global – Protect Local

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With most terrorist organizations being tracked and hunted down, centralized leadership is giving way to local or regional “lone wolf” actors or Internet recruits. Because most of these homegrown terrorists lack expertise and financing, vehicles are all too viable solution as a delivery instrument of terror. They are easy to find and operate with little training necessary. Additionally, innocent pedestrians are high value public targets that do not typically attract a lot of security, making successful attacks easier.

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The Public Good

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Law enforcement and counter terrorism cannot be everywhere at all times. Public safety must rely on strategic uses of protective resources like bollards and other vehicle barriers. Architects and engineers must be constantly aware of soft target vulnerabilities in order to better protect pedestrian areas like open-air markets. Bollards are the most cost effective, easiest way to deter or prevent VAW attacks.

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Deadly Intent

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While the leading causes of vehicle crashes into buildings are operator error, vehicle malfunction, DUIs and traffic accidents, in the past 10 years there has been an alarming increase in deliberate attacks on civilians and military personnel. These assaults are called Vehicle as a Weapon (VAW) attacks. In the case where the terrorist vehicle (car/truck) is carrying a bomb, it is described as a vehicle borne improvised explosive device (VBIED) attack.

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Car Facts

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Among the first vehicle terror attacks were the Beirut barracks bombing in 1983 that killed 241 US soldiers, the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 that killed 168 and injured 680. On Bastille Day in 2016, a large cargo truck rammed and mowed down pedestrians in Nice, France, killing 86 and injuring 434. It was one of the worst VAW incidents in history.

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Recent Attacks

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As recently as December of 2020, an assailant deliberately used his car to kill one Capitol Police officer and injure another. Law enforcement and DHS indicate that terrorist VAW and VBIED attacks will continue to increase in the coming years and this is why protective design professionals need to incorporate effective strategies to mitigate or prevent vehicle incursions.

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Ratings Matter

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Whether you are creating pedestrian or storefront safety or protecting strategic buildings as part of a perimeter security design, bollards are among the most affordable and aesthetically pleasing solutions. They can be installed individually as a single steel bollard post or in arrays to cover larger distances. And in each security scenario, there are specific ratings that fit the mandated safety requirements for your construction project. To protect against vehicle terror attacks and VBIED, bollards can be ASTM, DoD or PAS 68 rated for speeds of 30, 40 and 50 mph. For road, storefront and parking lot safety, there is a low speed ASTM F3016 rating that covers speeds from 10-30 mph.

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Search & Deploy

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Depending on options like materials, finishes, lighting and vehicle crash rating, steel bollard prices vary widely from manufacturer to manufacturer. For this very reason, Protogetic simplifies your search with our Comparison tool, which performs a side-by-side comparison of all the selected bollards that fit your project requirements. And once you have narrowed your choice down, Protogetic created a direct communication link with the manufacturer called “Request Custom Quote” so you can effortlessly determine the cost and lead time of your selected safety bollard.

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Endless Searching?

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Protective design engineers can assess the needs of your project and make recommendations on the appropriate ratings for bollards. Just finding the right rated product is an enormously time-consuming process, forcing you to comb through Internet brochures and manufacturer websites.

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The Protogetic Solution

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Why search for a needle in a haystack in order to locate the very best safety bollard options for your project? Now, when you sign up for a free account on Protogetic, you can use our proprietary, ground-breaking Filter to find anti-ram rated and low speed rated bollard products instantly. Hours versus seconds… The choice is yours. The choice is Protogetic.com.

"}, {"category": "retractable-bollards", "text": "

Bollards - Retractable

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Retractable bollards are distinctly different from typical bollards in that they are considered active barriers whereas parking bollards, safety bollards and most anti-ram bollards are fixed barriers, meaning they are permanently in place unless they are a unique type that can be removed.

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Rising Road Hazard

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Retractable bollards, sometimes referred to as pop up bollards or automatic bollards, can rise up and descend inconspicuously to ground level when not in use and for this reason they are optimal for high level traffic control areas, including parking lots, commercial buildings and military bases.

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Ground Control

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Because they descend to surface level, pedestrians will not encounter any trip hazards and vehicles can gain entry when required. Manual retractable bollards are different from removable bollards because they are always in place and can be activated with either a simple key lock or hydraulic/electric switch on site.

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Effective & Efficient

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Removable bollards must be manually placed or pulled out and then stored when not in use. This requires a considerable amount of manpower (and cost) compared to a fixed or retractable bollard.

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Curb Appeal

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Because automatic rising bollards are often “invisible” and minimally invasive to the landscape, many protective design professionals consider them more aesthetically pleasing than their fixed/permanent brethren. Unlike fixed storefront safety bollards, retractable bollards are active and functional. As such, they are not as ideal for locations where they interact constantly with motor vehicles (like delivery and loading docks and parking lots) as their telescoping mechanism could be damaged by impact.

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Advanced Placement

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Instead, retractable bollards are best deployed to cordon off frequently used pedestrian areas such as park entrances, roadway or plazas or outside mall access where vehicle traffic is only sometimes necessary. For this reason, removing and replacing a bollard system weekly would be enormously inefficient compared to simply activating an automatic rising bollard.

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Crash Ratings

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Like standard bollards, retractable bollards are available in numerous anti-ram ratings, including ASTM and DoD. Finding rated retractable bollards has never been easier when you shop at Protogetic.com

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Power Moves

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Retractable bollards can be manually operated, hydraulic or electric, sometimes called an electric bollard. For this reason, how long it takes the system to cycle (rise and descend) is important and you can find this information on all of Protogetic’s retractable bollard product pages.

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Temperature Gauge

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Additionally, since the telescopic bollard must retract into the ground completely, these products often have operating temperature ranges up to -40 below and as high as 140 degrees. Every retractable bollard on the Protogetic site is accompanied by detailed information regarding the manufacturer’s recommended minimum/maximum operating temperatures.

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Can you dig it?

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Retractable bollards require excavation, as they must be embedded into the substrate. Before placing these devices, you must make sure your soil configuration is compatible. Installation can often require manufacturer assistance so it is valuable to know the product’s lead time as well as installation costs and options. Protogetic provides all these price details on the product page because their cost is typically more expensive compared to the fixed or removable versions.

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Maintenance Plan

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Retractable bollards require maintenance and additional concerns about water drainage to ensure the proper functioning of the assembly. This makes the upkeep and investment in automatic retractable bollards more expensive than installing fixed bollards.

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Price Comparison

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When researching or shopping for retractable bollards, prices will vary between how they are operated (manual, hydraulic, electric) and each individual manufacturer. For obvious reasons, one should expect to pay a higher price than a standard steel parking bollard.

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Our Digital Market Solution

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Protogetic offers a wide selection of retractable bollards from leading manufacturers all over the world. Each has a detailed product page with technical drawings, specs, rating certifications, leaving virtually nothing for you to do other than request a custom quote directly with one click of a button. Protogetic delivers on our promise of cutting your search times for days and hours to mere minutes or even seconds. Create an account for free today.

"}, {"category": "wedge-barriers", "text": "

WEDGE BARRIERS

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What is a Wedge Barrier?

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Wedge or pop-up barriers are a type of barricade used as part of an active vehicle barrier (AVB) system for high-security facilities. These dynamic security barriers are used for access control, allowing or preventing vehicles from passing through critical points such as entry gates or tunnels.

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Wedge barriers get their name from the shape they form when activated and raised, which looks like a wedge of pie jutting from the ground. When inactive, they lay flat on the road to let vehicles pass through freely.

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A pop-up barrier offers a significant upgrade to regular barrier gates because they can withstand far greater impact. These effective anti-ram security barricades can routinely stop large trucks or heavily armored vehicles driving at 50 mph.

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The majority of wedge barriers are independently crash tested to conform to ASTM F2656 standards (ASTM stands for American Society for Testing and Materials). The ASTM F2656 protocol was implemented in 2007 upon publication of the F2656 Vehicle Impact Test Method for Perimeter Barriers report.

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Meeting ASTM F2656 standards is one of the requirements set by the U.S. Department of State before a wedge barrier can be used in sensitive government facilities.

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Benefits of a Wedge Barrier

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Wedge barriers provide some of the most robust anti-ram measures for stopping a wide variety of vehicles. They have a rigid and reinforced construction that provides additional protection for strategic, high-security facilities like government buildings, military bases and nuclear sites as well as vulnerable public infrastructure like stadiums, car parks and corporate headquarters.

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Hydraulic wedge barriers are also easy and quick to operate. They can deploy in less than five seconds, offering a fast response during an emergency. This is crucial as, with any emergency, time is of the utmost importance. When inactive, a hydraulic wedge barrier blends in with the road seamlessly. As a result, it is not at all obtrusive. The sturdy construction and high axle load can support a massive amount of weight, so there are typically no restrictions on the vehicles that can pass over it.

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Some wedge barriers are delivered pre-assembled, making installation quick and easy. Some are portable and ready to be placed on site. Other hydraulic vehicle barriers require certified installation by a manufacturer. They come in various widths from 8 ft. – 14 ft., so you can easily combine two or more to cover a wider area - no need for customization.

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These barriers only require shallow foundations (around 16-20 inches on average) and can be deployed in all climate zones. The materials used are also typically corrosion-resistant, so wedge barriers have incredible longevity with minimal maintenance.

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Most barriers also have LED lights installed that flash while activated to warn motorists to stop. This eliminates the need to install stoplights.

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Wedge Barrier Operation

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Wedge barriers rise or sink via a mounted actuator powered either hydraulically or electronically. In some cases, you can also find barriers with manual actuators. The operator controls these via an accumulator or hand pumps.

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When activated, the actuators push on a pivot arm that causes the top impact plate to rotate and rise in place. The deployment process takes less than five seconds. Some models even have an emergency fast operation (EFO) mode that activates deployment in just under 1.5 seconds.

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Wedge Barrier Uses

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A hydraulic vehicle barrier is an essential protective measure when a high level of security is desired. Some of the examples include:

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Wedge barriers are used together with other security barriers like bollards and gates to provide maximum protection.
It’s an effective anti-theft barrier that prevents car thieves from escaping car parks or impoundment lots.
Military facilities housing sensitive and dangerous assets, such as nuclear silos, can use a wedge barrier hydraulic stop barrier as the first line of defense against terrorist intrusions.
The small footprint requirements of wedge barriers make them suitable for urban locations like embassies, corporate officers, stadiums or possibly shopping malls.
They can be placed in the gates of government buildings, facilities, and national monuments to help control vehicular access.
Wedge barriers can also be used to protect pedestrians from speeding vehicles.

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The Protogetic Difference

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We are a comprehensive digital marketplace serving the protective design industry. By using our platform, you can discover the top products for building safety and security. Our goal is to streamline search times, ultimately reducing the time design professionals spend to find the information they need most.

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Best of all, Protogetic is designed for both vendors and users. Vendors can use our platform to present their products to qualified professionals looking for physical security products. Our user base is primarily comprised of architects and engineers, blast consultants, US Government procurement officers, and security professionals. They come to Protogetic to discover products needed for projects based on specific search parameters. For example, these can include ASTM ratings or FE ratings. In addition, users can search for parameters connected to specific projects, such as foundation depths or operating temperatures.

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Users will find Protogetic to be an easy-to-use solution for their protective design project needs. Instead of searching for specifications and information for hours, find what you need in minutes. That’s the Protogetic difference.

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