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All About Street Furniture: Know About The Fixtures That Make Our Streets A Better Place
http://www.culturesociety.net/articles/9030/1/All-About-Street-Furniture-Know-About-The-Fixtures-That-Make-Our-Streets-A-Better-Place/Page1.html
Mike Lister
By Mike Lister
Published on 02/12/2010
 
The Importance of Street Furniture Without street furniture dotting our boulevards, our streets will not be as interesting and complete Whenever we walk on different avenues and alleys, we look at lamp posts, drinking fountains, horse troughs, bollards and boundary walls as parts of the street instead of just fixtures that enhance it

The Importance of Street Furniture

Without street furniture dotting our boulevards, our streets will not be as interesting and complete. Whenever we walk on different avenues and alleys, we look at lamp posts, drinking fountains, horse troughs, bollards and boundary walls as parts of the street instead of just fixtures that enhance it. However, even though roads are considered as one of the oldest avenues used by mankind, they are still subject to constant change. There are some instances, on the other hand, when streets preserve these items as historic icons so that people can remember the ways of living in the past. For example, some street fixtures like early gas lightings, drinking troughs, and overhead tram poles can be good relics that show us how much technology and our way of living has transformed through the centuries. Even though the importance of these street fixtures are not always appreciated, they have very important roles in making streets a safer place for people.

Elements to Consider in Choosing Street Furniture

There are two things to consider when it comes to choosing the best street furniture and that is renewal and durability. The concept of renewal is often applied to furniture that are made of timber like signposts and stocks. This quality somehow overlaps with that of durability which is concerned on the longevity of the furniture as well as its authenticity. In choosing items for streets, the origin of the material in which the furniture is made should be considered because it can lessen the probability of renewal.

Highway Street Furniture

One of the most commonly used types of street furniture is those that are used on highways. When it comes to furnishings for highways, the most common types are the street surfaces, the bollards, the raised pavements and steps and the railings. Street surfaces use granite wooden blocks, cobbles and asphalt as their substances. In choosing the best material for street coverings there are lots of elements that should be considered such as the types of vehicles that pass the area and the number of people who always walk over it. Raised pavements and steps are almost the same because they use almost the same materials. Bollards, on the other hand, are one of the oldest street fixtures that are still in used nowadays. These materials are used in order to moderate the traffic, stop vehicles from running into the pavement, secure the sides of entrances, and stop or prevent anyone from parking on an unauthorized space. The oldest bollards were made of wood but today they are mostly made of iron. Railings, on the other hand, were mostly made of iron and are very effective in separating the safe lane of people from that of the actual road. But however they look like although old and new fixtures still lined up the streets and highways, all the same they still serve their purpose. They are actually not landmarks but may serve as warnings, precautions for people, light for the night and simply fixtures to get us through the dark evenings.