Bollards

Equal access
Requirements for the integration of equal access for all users
The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) defines ‘premises’ as the whole of the built environment and includes existing buildings, new or proposed buildings, transport systems, car parks, pathways, and public parks and gardens.
Note: Consult an access consultant accredited by the Association of Consultants in Access Australia (ACAA).
Elements required for equal access
- Embellishments must be designed in accordance with AS 1428 Design for access and mobility.
- Provide equal access by installing bollards at the recommended mounting and circulation heights to provide wheelchair access.
- Install bollards in consistent locations for ease of recognition by people with vision impairment.
- When retro-fitting bollards, consider the location of existing embellishments. If there is insufficient circulation space, a new location may be required.
- Install bollards at a minimum 500 mm offset from the edge of a pathway, to provide safe clearance for pedestrians and cyclists.
- Bollards near or on a path must have a reflector to warn cyclists and pedestrians. (See Austroads Guide to Road Design Part 6A: Paths for walking and cycling).
- Bollards near or on a path should be illuminated at night by a nearby light pole where possible.
- Where a central path bollard cannot be avoided, widen the path at the bollard location to accommodate prams, wheelchairs and mobility devices.
- If a pathway with a central removable bollard is maintenance vehicle access, ensure that the path is designed as a vehicle cross over.
- Consider a luminance strip (painted, high visibility tape or integrated colour, depending on the bollard material) to improve bollard definition for people with vision impairment.
- Prune vegetation to allow light spill from nearby lighting to illuminate bollards installed into pathways.
- Avoid finished height difference between a concrete slab and adjoining surfaces to prevent trip hazards and to prevent ‘tramlining’ of pram, bicycle and wheelchair wheels.
Visual/sensory wayfinding
- For people with a vision impairment, provide a minimum 30% luminance contrast between objects and the background they are viewed against, for ease of identification.
- Where luminance contrast may not be achieved (such as grey aluminium furniture on grey concrete), luminance contrast can be addressed by introducing colour into the ground surface providing a minimum 30% luminance contrast with the embellishment base, resulting in the embellishment being more visible for people who have low vision.
- Consider designing nodes with a contrasting coloured concrete, or a variation in surface texture, to enable people with a disability to identify the location of embellishments along a pathway.

- The selected bollard colour may strongly imply a coloured concrete base slab is used. Contrast can be enhanced, by providing a different coloured concrete border around the bollard base to improve colour and luminance contrast.
- Where bollards are installed in a path of travel, at centres less than 1.2 m, consider warning tactile ground surface indicators to alert users.
This component is currently in development