Crash Barriers
Crash-Rated Vehicle Barriers: Pick the Right One
Cojo
Invalid Date
7 min read
The best vehicle barrier for a property perimeter is the one whose crash rating matches the credible vehicle threat, whose foundation requirement fits the existing slab, and whose visual footprint matches what the site can carry. Choosing a barrier without doing a threat-tier match wastes capital on either over-spec hardware or, worse, under-spec hardware that fails the only impact it ever sees.
A vehicle barrier is any engineered system designed to stop or redirect a vehicle attempting to enter a defined space. For commercial property perimeter security, "vehicle barrier" includes crash-rated bollards, jersey barriers, anti-ram cable systems, wedge barriers, and planter-integrated barriers, all graded under ASTM F2656 at the M30, M40, or M50 level depending on the test vehicle's stop distance.
ASTM F2656 grades a vehicle barrier on its ability to arrest a 15,000-pound medium-duty truck at three impact speeds:
Penetration class (P1, P2, P3, P4) grades how far the test vehicle's bed crosses the barrier line after impact. P1 is the strongest performance (less than 1 meter of penetration). Most commercial perimeter specs land at M30/P1 or M40/P1.
The U.S. Department of State's Diplomatic Security Service crash-rating guidance historically used K-ratings (K4/K8/K12) at the same speeds. ASTM consolidated those into the M-ratings in 2009. Older specs and older barrier datasheets sometimes still reference K4/K8/K12 -- the crosswalk is K4 = M30, K8 = M40, K12 = M50.
A 12,000-square-foot fuel-station perimeter Cojo installed in NW Portland in November 2025 specified M40/P1 across the customer-side curb, with M50/P1 anti-ram bollards at the cashier-facing storefront, after a threat assessment showed the realistic attack vehicle was a stolen rental cargo van.
These are the categories Cojo specifies most for permanent perimeter security work in Oregon.
| Barrier Type | Typical Rating | Footprint | When to Specify |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anti-ram crash bollards | M30 to M50 / P1 | Discrete posts, 36 to 48 in spacing | Storefront perimeter, fueling islands, pedestrian zones |
| Concrete jersey barrier | M30 / P1 (10-ft section) | Continuous 24-in base | Construction zones, surge events, industrial truck-court |
| Steel guardrail (w-beam) | Not F2656; MASH TL-3 | 6 ft 3 in post spacing | Edge-drop perimeter, retention pond edge |
| Crash-rated planter barrier | M30 to M50 | Wide footprint with landscaping | Urban storefront, aesthetic-sensitive sites |
| Wedge / hydraulic barrier | M30 to M50 / P1 | In-ground, active actuator | Active vehicle gates, secured entry |
Crash-rated bollards. They preserve pedestrian flow, accept M30 to M50 ratings, and are visually compatible with most commercial storefronts. The trade-off is foundation cost: a fully crash-rated bollard run requires a 24-inch reinforced concrete slab with cast-in anchor cages, not a surface-mount install. For a related decision, see our comparison of bollards versus guardrail for parking lot perimeter.
Jersey barrier. Continuous concrete sections at MASH TL-3 or TL-4 redirect single-unit truck impact, install with crane in a single shift, and resist environmental damage. Truck courts also do not need pedestrian-permeable perimeter, so the visual continuity of jersey barrier is a feature, not a flaw.
Crash-rated planter barrier. Manufacturers like Calpipe and Reliance Foundry produce M30/P1 and M40/P1 planters that integrate landscaping over the structural barrier. The footprint is wide -- typically 4 to 6 feet of barrier-plus-planting depth -- but the visual impact reads as urban-design feature, not security hardware.
The single best way to specify a perimeter is to start with a credible threat assessment, not a barrier model. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) hostile vehicle mitigation guidance walks property owners through an assessment that yields a recommended crash rating.
The simplified version Cojo uses on commercial perimeter assessments:
| Site Type | Likely Attack Vehicle | Run-up Speed | Recommended Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| Suburban retail strip | Passenger car or small SUV | Under 30 mph | M30 / P1 |
| Fueling station, drive-thru | Mid-size delivery truck | 30 to 40 mph | M40 / P1 |
| High-foot-traffic urban storefront | Cargo van, stolen vehicle | 40 to 50 mph | M50 / P1 |
| Industrial truck court | Tractor-semitrailer | Variable | MASH TL-4 redirective |
| Government / critical infrastructure | Cargo truck, attack scenario | 50 mph | M50 / P1 + active barrier at entry |
Crash-rated performance depends on the foundation as much as the barrier itself. Manufacturer datasheets always specify a minimum foundation -- typically a reinforced concrete slab keyed to the barrier's anchor pattern. Skipping the foundation spec collapses the crash rating from the M50 the manufacturer advertises to "decorative bollard with no rating" in any post-impact failure analysis.
Industry Baseline Range
| Component | Range |
|---|---|
| M30/P1 crash bollard foundation (per bollard) | $1,200 to $2,400 installed |
| M50/P1 crash bollard foundation (per bollard) | $2,800 to $5,500 installed |
| Crash-rated planter barrier foundation (per linear foot) | $400 to $900 installed |
| Concrete jersey perimeter (per linear foot, set only) | $35 to $75 installed |
Crash-rated foundation work in 2026 is running 14 to 22 percent above 2024 levels along the I-5 corridor. The largest driver is structural rebar pricing, which moved up sharply through late 2025 and is still passing through to project quotes. Crane and concrete-pump rentals have also moved up. The cost-savings move that survives the price environment is consolidating bollard runs into linear groups so the foundation pour is one mobilization rather than three.
For crash-rated bollards, spacing is set by the credible threat vehicle's track width plus a containment margin. Most M30/P1 and M40/P1 specs land at 36 to 48 inches center-to-center, which is narrow enough to prevent a passenger car or cargo van from passing between bollards. Wider spacing (60 inches and up) defeats the rating.
For pedestrian openings, plan a 36-inch ADA-compliant gap between bollards in at least one location per perimeter run. Pedestrian gaps need to be designed deliberately, not left as a side effect of irregular bollard spacing.
Most commercial perimeter projects combine barriers. A typical combined perimeter for a Pacific Northwest fueling station:
Each barrier type carries the load it is best at, and the property avoids the over-spec cost of M50 hardware on every linear foot. See our deeper walkthrough of hostile vehicle mitigation for parking lots for the layered-defense framework.
Cojo runs vehicle-barrier perimeter work across the I-5 corridor out of Salem and the Portland metro. Recent installs include the NW Portland fuel station perimeter (November 2025), a 14,000-square-foot Salem retail center M30 perimeter (March 2026), and a Bend resort campus M40 entry-control rebuild (April 2026). For city-specific records, see crash barrier installation in Portland.
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