Preston city centre’s famous Fishergate bollards are getting a make-over.
They have become a local landmark and made national headlines after being knocked over several times by drivers.
The stone safety features that mark pedestrian crossing points on Fishergate and Corporation Street have also been nominated for a business award and even had their own Twitter account.
They were erected as part of the city’s controversial shared space project. Now Lancashire County Council has announced changes to the design of the bollards to reduce collisions.
The new bollards are made of steel and include a reflective red rose and lettering for added visibility. A surround at the base will help to reduce the likelihood and impact of any collision.
Work to begin installing the new features started this week and will continue for up to two weeks.
The county council says the number of incidents involving pedestrians has dropped by 50 per cent since the new road layout was introduced around Fishergate and Corporation Street back in 2014.
County Councillor Keith Iddon, cabinet member for highways and transport, said: “These bollards have become a well-known landmark in the city. There's been lots of media coverage and even reviews on Tripadvisor recognising them as a local attraction.
“Some people have been calling for the bollards to come back, after they were knocked off in collisions.
“We’re hoping that this makeover will help to increase awareness of them, but for the right reasons this time.
“These safety features are very important, as they mark out the crossings and protect people as they cross the road. If a bollard is hit, then it’s not a person being hit, which is the purpose of them being there. We’d prefer these incidents didn't happen at all and that's why we’ve updated the design.
“There have been a number of incidents involving the bollards, so we looked carefully at the details of the collisions that we know about and came up with these improvements to try to stop further incidents from happening”
The county council takes action to recover the cost of any damage, where a vehicle can be identified. The damage was repaired whenever possible, rather than replacing the bollards each time, reducing the overall cost.
There will be lane closures in place for the new bollards to be installed safely, however the reduced levels of traffic at the moment mean that any disruption is expected to be minimal.
The new bollards are 1.5m tall, and 1.2m wide at the base. They will be bolted securely to the existing stone bases, which themselves have been strengthened with a concrete infill.
Work is already ongoing to replace the flagstone pavements over the railway bridge with buff-coloured asphalt to match the surrounding area.
Some minor changes to bus services which are already in place for this work will continue, with city-bound buses being diverted via Bow Lane, Marsh Lane and Ringway, and the bus stop opposite the main railway station entrance being temporarily moved to Bow Lane.
Work will also take place to repair damaged surfaces of roads and pavements in the vicinity in order to minimise any disruption in the future.