Ohio

[lepidopteran]

On I-75, the Hancock County Rd. 99 interchange is to be replaced with a diverging diamond.

[TempoNick]

God forbid we have any attractive greenery on the freeway. Can our highways look any uglier than they are?

ODOT removing trees too close to major interstates across central Ohio


https://abc6onyourside.com/amp/newsletter-daily/odot-removing-trees-too-close-to-major-interstates-across-central-ohio

[Scott5114]

Looks like all of those were in the clear zone, meaning they were a safety hazard. Basic highway engineering, no news here.

[Plutonic Panda]

Yeah i'm very conflicted on this. I do enjoy driving down freeways and seeing trees even if they're in the clear zone. But at the same time, it does make sense to have a clear zone because it does contribute to a safer environment.

[Great Lakes Roads]

God forbid we have any attractive greenery on the freeway. Can our highways look any uglier than they are?

ODOT removing trees too close to major interstates across central Ohio


https://abc6onyourside.com/amp/newsletter-daily/odot-removing-trees-too-close-to-major-interstates-across-central-ohio

South Carolina has been doing that recently on their section of interstates with a wide median... I am not surprise that it's happening in other states, and safety is at the forefront of every DOT's minds!

[silverback1065]

DOTs aren't landscape architects, if you want pretty interstates call a landscape architect 

[GCrites]

God forbid we have any attractive greenery on the freeway. Can our highways look any uglier than they are?

ODOT removing trees too close to major interstates across central Ohio


https://abc6onyourside.com/amp/newsletter-daily/odot-removing-trees-too-close-to-major-interstates-across-central-ohio

The Great Wall of Gahanna has been revealed! Once feared lost to time, this specimen illustrates how much sound walls have changed over the past 50 years.

[sprjus4]

God forbid we have any attractive greenery on the freeway.

So, ODOT should prioritize... attractive greenery... over safety and reducing crashes that have killed people unnecessarily?

https://highways.dot.gov/safety/rwd/provide-safe-recovery/clear-zones/clear-zones

[TempoNick]

God forbid we have any attractive greenery on the freeway.

So, ODOT should prioritize... attractive greenery... over safety and reducing crashes that have killed people unnecessarily?

https://highways.dot.gov/safety/rwd/provide-safe-recovery/clear-zones/clear-zones

How many people have been killed by those trees in the last 60 years in the Columbus area? Zero to my knowledge. Those big light towers and their placement is a far greater risk to people than any of that greenery was. Sounds like a makework project to me.

[Rothman]

DOTs aren't landscape architects, if you want pretty interstates call a landscape architect 

Wrong.  DOTs have environmental units staffed with landscape architects.

NYSDOT is currently trying to implement more wildflower seeding/native pollinator support and is using in-house landscape architects to do so.

[GCrites]

We've also developed a big problem with invasive bush honeysuckle along our roadways over the past 10 years.

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

God forbid we have any attractive greenery on the freeway. Can our highways look any uglier than they are?

ODOT removing trees too close to major interstates across central Ohio


https://abc6onyourside.com/amp/newsletter-daily/odot-removing-trees-too-close-to-major-interstates-across-central-ohio

The Great Wall of Gahanna has been revealed! Once feared lost to time, this specimen illustrates how much sound walls have changed over the past 50 years.

Damn shame that the graffiti (on said wall), from the 1980s, didn't make it back.

[Scott5114]

Sounds like a makework project to me.

That's because you don't know what you're talking about. Go read up on what a clear zone is and try again.

DOTs aren't landscape architects, if you want pretty interstates call a landscape architect 

The head of Oklahoma DOT is a landscape architect...

[wanderer2575]

DOTs aren't landscape architects, if you want pretty interstates call a landscape architect 

Wrong.  DOTs have environmental units staffed with landscape architects.

Or they've contracted with a landscape architect to draw up the plans.  When I first started looking at Michigan construction plans I was amazed at the specified detail of the landscaping -- not just the grading, but exactly what foliage gets planted in exactly which spots.

[seicer]

God forbid we have any attractive greenery on the freeway.

So, ODOT should prioritize... attractive greenery... over safety and reducing crashes that have killed people unnecessarily?

https://highways.dot.gov/safety/rwd/provide-safe-recovery/clear-zones/clear-zones

How many people have been killed by those trees in the last 60 years in the Columbus area? Zero to my knowledge. Those big light towers and their placement is a far greater risk to people than any of that greenery was. Sounds like a makework project to me.

WVDOH has been on a canopy/tree clearing program (November 15 to March 31) for several years after several high-profile accidents involving collapsing trees on vehicles. The program also came after several ice storms closed roads for days because of downed trees and after much contention over power companies not clearing their right-of-way. In 2022-23, WVDOH crews cleared 550 acres of canopy along more than 430 miles of roadway, and in 2023-24, they increased that to 600 acres.

ODOT has cleared vegetation wholesale before - in Cincinnati and Cleveland - because of concerns about overgrown vegetation and homeless encampments. I've not seen the "after" in Cleveland, but in Cincinnati, it looks 100% better with mowed grass and wildflower plantings replacing scrub trees and honeysuckle.

Overgrown vegetation and trees along the sides of roads cast shadows on the pavement, exaggerating freeze-thaw cycles, obscure the line of sight of the roadway or traffic control devices, are a fixed object hazard to motorists, and conceal wildlife.  (AASHTO) There is a point in aesthetics, but an interstate through central Columbus is not that. ODOT has a process regarding tree canopy maintenance practices, which seems to now be out-of-date in the context of the article.

[TempoNick]

I still don't like it. Columbus highways are ugly enough. They don't put any effort into design or making things look nice like some other states do. The very least you can do is give us some greenery to obstruct all the ugliness.

Last time I was along I-77 north of Charlotte, I loved all the trees. I thought it looked great, but God forbid that ODOT worry about aesthetics

[silverback1065]

I still don't like it. Columbus highways are ugly enough. They don't put any effort into design or making things look nice like some other states do. The very least you can do is give us some greenery to obstruct all the ugliness.

Last time I was along I-77 north of Charlotte, I loved all the trees. I thought it looked great, but God forbid that ODOT worry about aesthetics

DOTs for the most part do not care about aesthetics, they just care about efficient traffic flow. This varies from state to state obviously but it isn't their job to make it pretty.

[Rothman]

I still don't like it. Columbus highways are ugly enough. They don't put any effort into design or making things look nice like some other states do. The very least you can do is give us some greenery to obstruct all the ugliness.

Last time I was along I-77 north of Charlotte, I loved all the trees. I thought it looked great, but God forbid that ODOT worry about aesthetics

DOTs for the most part do not care about aesthetics, they just care about efficient traffic flow. This varies from state to state obviously but it isn't their job to make it pretty.

Lady Bird Johnson disagreed...

[The Ghostbuster]

Well she died in 2007 (and ceased being First Lady in 1969), so her opinion should be moot.

[TempoNick]

DOTs for the most part do not care about aesthetics, they just care about efficient traffic flow. This varies from state to state obviously but it isn't their job to make it pretty.

In Nevada, they don't have to care. Everything is wide open. But in a place like Ohio, there is a lot of visual pollution and the ugly freeway designs don't help matters. Nothing wrong with some greenery.

[carbaugh2]

God forbid we have any attractive greenery on the freeway. Can our highways look any uglier than they are?

ODOT removing trees too close to major interstates across central Ohio


https://abc6onyourside.com/amp/newsletter-daily/odot-removing-trees-too-close-to-major-interstates-across-central-ohio

The Great Wall of Gahanna has been revealed! Once feared lost to time, this specimen illustrates how much sound walls have changed over the past 50 years.

Including the fact that it is appears to be leaning now. I was able to spend some extra time looking at it while I waited for some of Gahanna's finest to come take a crash report and cite the driver that bump drafted me through that stretch last week.

[Rothman]

Well she died in 2007 (and ceased being First Lady in 1969), so her opinion should be moot.

If you think still-active policies established in the 1960s as a result of her work are moot, that certainly says something about your opinion.

[seicer]

I've found nothing about following Lady Bird's aesthetics on ODOT's policy manual (or with WVDOH or KYTC).

ODOT did update its Roadside Safety Landscape Guidelines in January, https://www.transportation.ohio.gov/working/engineering/roadway/manuals-standards/location-design-vol-1/0900/0900, and it states: "The basis for this section stems from the fact that trees are a major cause of injuries and fatalities on the nation's highways. While it is desired to increase the amount of aesthetics on the State highway system, and these guidelines try to encourage that end, it cannot be understated: trees are proven killers when placed by the roadside. Single vehicle crashes with trees account for 3,000 fatalities each year nationwide. Trees are not generally a highway element that engineers have control over, except in landscaping projects where the designer can make decisions to reduce the consequences of vehicles leaving the road."

It does outline where trees and large shrubs can be placed under 905.1.1-905.1.4.

It makes me wonder if liability also plays a part in this. WVDOH was sued over rock fall hazards and tree falls in the past. Did legal action prompt ODOT to do the same?

[Rothman]

Oh brother.

Consideration of plantings is required through federal environmental processes (e.g., NEPA).  That said, there is a waiver to doing so that is frequently implemented by DOTs, but the policy still stands.

[seicer]

"Oh, brother." Again, no citations were provided, and only vague statements were made. Check.

Looking through the FHWA, nothing under "NEPA" forces a DOT to mandate tree or vegetation encroachment on the right-of-way. Under the Federal Aid Policy Guide 752.4:

"Landscape development, which includes landscaping projects and other highway planting programs within the right-of-way of all federally funded highways or on adjoining scenic lands, shall be in general conformity with accepted concepts and principles of highway landscaping and environmental design."

If this was the Highlands Scenic Highway in West Virginia, considerations may need to be made on landscape or vegetation encroachment and management. A highway through central Columbus isn't going to violate "NEPA" or the FHWA. As ODOT's own guidelines and policies state, each municipality needs to submit an action plan to maintain said vegetation. If the City of Columbus (in this instance) did not, then ODOT can fault the city for allowing the vegetation to become a nuisance and have it removed.

Nothing under 752.4 also mandates ODOT to keep excessive tree growth or vegetation, either. It would be considered appropriate in urban and rural areas for grass to serve as the vegetative buffer.