bol·lard
/ˈbälərd/ noun a short post used to divert traffic from an area or road. Well, now that's cleared up, here's some info on Sparks Street's bollards that you may not have been aware of!
Sparks Street utilizes bollards at the beginning/ends of each block for traffic control and to maintain the safety of pedestrians.
We have an entire 'Vehicular Access Policy' regarding Sparks Street and our bollards.
We wish we had the super expensive, fancy lower-into-the-ground-and-rise-back-up-again-remotely kind of bollards, but those are a dream until the Public Realm Plan can commence!
You may wonder why the bollards are not in use during winter? Because they're not currently the above mentioned heated dream bollards we hope for and snow plows like to snack on them.
Fun Fact: the first bollards were cannons used on old war ships. "The practice of using old iron guns as road posts or bollards was started at least as early as the 17th century" (Blackmore 1976, p. 70, catalogue no. 47).
As the warm weather arrives, reducing the risk of our bollards freezing into the ground, Sparks Street will be putting our traffic diversion posts back in place Monday, April 12, 2021.
The bollards are removed between 7 a.m. - 10 a.m. to allow deliveries on the street. There are signs notifying the public of this 15 minute delivery window on our Delivery Hours signs along the street. Due to the historical location of Sparks Street combined with the additional security measures that correspond to being a block away from the Parliament buildings, most of the North side of Sparks Street businesses do not have loading docks. For this reason, Sparks Street must maintain this delivery window due to this little-known fact.
Every weekday, you'll see a dedicated Lafleur employee manually unlocking/locking, hoisting, and storing/replacing each individual bollard one at a time - it's not a quick or easy job! 30 bollards out, 30 bollards back in every day. Feel free to say hello/bonjour to our contractors and thank them for their work helping Sparks Street BIA maintain everyone's safety.
We hope you enjoyed learning a little about our bollard operations! Vehicles beware, Sparks Street is primarily a pedestrian thoroughfare ;)
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