Parking Lot
Wheel Stop vs Curb Stop vs Bollard: Which to Use
Cojo
May 7, 2026
6 min read
Wheel stops, curb stops, and bollards solve overlapping problems with different geometry. A wheel stop arrests one parked car at the front-tire position. A curb stop runs a continuous edge at the perimeter of a parking row. A bollard stands as a vertical post that protects a fixed asset - a building face, a fuel pump, an ATM, a storefront entry - from vehicle strike at any speed up to its rated impact threshold. Picking the wrong one for the job costs the project either material money or compliance failures.
| Product | Geometry | Function | Typical install |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wheel stop | Single 6 to 7-foot horizontal unit | Arrest one parked car at the front-tire position | One per parking stall |
| Curb stop | Continuous horizontal edge piece, 8 to 16+ feet | Define a parking row perimeter or planter island | Linear runs at row edges |
| Bollard | Vertical post, 36 to 48 inches above grade | Block vehicle strike on a fixed asset | At-risk assets (storefront, fuel pump, ATM, equipment) |
| Job to do | First choice | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Arrest each parked car at stall head | Wheel stop | Per-stall arrest, ADA-compatible placement, low cost |
| Define a planter island or row edge | Curb stop | Continuous edge, cleaner visual than discrete wheel stops |
| Protect a storefront from vehicle ramming | Crash-rated bollard | K4/K8/K12 ASTM rating handles vehicle-impact threats |
| Protect equipment (fuel pump, ATM, EV charger) | Bollard | Vertical post arrests vehicle at the asset, not just a wheel |
| Channel pedestrian path away from drive aisle | Bollard | Vertical mass communicates "no driving here" |
| Define a fire lane edge | Curb stop OR removable bollard | Curb stop for full-time, removable bollard for emergency-access |
| Mark an ADA accessible stall | Wheel stop with stencil | Section 502.6 requires pavement ISA; wheel stop supplements |
Often. A typical 100-stall retail center will install:
The three products complement each other. They do not substitute for each other. Cojo runs all three crews on coordinated mobilizations.
Industry Baseline Range
| Product | Per-unit installed | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Wheel stop | $80 to $230 per unit | Concrete or rubber, asphalt or concrete substrate |
| Curb stop | $250 to $700 per 8 to 16-foot section | Pre-cast continuous edge unit |
| Standard pipe bollard | $400 to $900 per unit | Galvanized steel pipe, concrete-filled, embedded foundation |
| Decorative bollard | $500 to $2,500 per unit | Cast-iron, fluted, capped aesthetic SKUs |
| Crash-rated bollard (K4/K8/K12) | $1,500 to $10,000 per unit | ASTM F2656 certified, vehicle-impact rated |
| Retractable bollard (manual) | $400 to $900 per unit | Telescopic mechanism for service-access lanes |
| Retractable bollard (automatic) | $3,000 to $15,000 per unit | Hydraulic, button-press operation |
Across all three products, 2026 pricing has tracked above industry baselines. Wheel stops absorbed cement and rebar increases. Curb stops absorbed the same increases plus a higher freight cost on the heavier units. Bollards absorbed the steel-tube material increase and, on crash-rated SKUs, an ASTM-cert testing-cost increase. Lots that mobilize all three products in one project typically save 15 to 25 percent over separate mobilizations.
Wheel stops and curb stops have direct ADA placement geometry rules under Section 502.3. They cannot encroach on the access aisle. They cannot reduce the parking-stall depth below 18 feet for standard or 16 feet for compact stalls. The U.S. Access Board confirms accessible-stall geometry must be preserved through the life of the lot (access-board.gov).
Bollards are governed by ADA Section 307 (protruding objects) and Section 403 (pedestrian routes). Bollards on or near a pedestrian route must be at least 36 inches apart for accessible passage between them, and must not protrude into the pedestrian route at heights between 27 and 80 inches above the floor where they would create a head-strike hazard.
OSHA's general industry walking-working surfaces standard (OSHA 1910.22) governs all three products as fixed barriers in commercial environments. Loading-dock and fleet-yard environments add OSHA 1910.178 (powered industrial trucks) and OSHA 1910.176 (materials handling). Color coding under OSHA 1910.144 governs reflective-stripe and paint colors.
A Tigard retail center on the Beaverton-Tigard border ran a parking-lot refresh that combined all three products in a coordinated mobilization. We installed 138 standard wheel stops at every parking stall (two compact stalls had bay layouts and skipped wheel stops), set continuous curb stops around four planter islands and along the storefront sidewalk edge, and added eight standard pipe bollards at the storefront facade and four crash-rated bollards at the fuel-pump island. The combined project came in roughly 18 percent below what three separate mobilizations would have cost. The bollard curb stop painting refresh on the existing units happened in the same window.
If your project might use more than one of these products - which most do - send the lot address, a photo, and a list of the assets that need protection, and we will spec the right combination. The wheel stops buyer's guide covers wheel-stop product selection, the bollard buyer's guide covers bollard product selection, and wheel stop vs curb stop covers the curb-stop terminology question in detail.
Contact Cojo for a free site walk.
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