Cutting down trees from highway medians

[cjk374]

Back in the 1990s, I-20 was repaved between Simsboro and Grambling.  During this project, the road paving contractor had the pines removed from the sides of the interstate.  Then last year, the pines were removed between Ruston and the Lincoln/Bienville Parish line.  But this time, it wasn't part of a repaving project, and they removed the trees (pines only again) from both the sides and the median.  They didn't cut all of the pines from the Simsboro and Industry exit ramps, however.  Plus, this tree-cutting contractor made piles of all the tree waste and have left them everywhere.  The "Road Work Ahead" signs related to this project have been removed, so I don't think their are plans to remove the piles.

[LeftyJR]

Something that seems effective, and which I'm surprised we don't see more, is a raised median.  As opposed to a gentle slope to a ditch in the middle, it's sort of a triangle in section, with a small ditch on each side.  I can understand that it complicates the drainage somewhat, but it seems like a mound of dirt can pretty effectively block crossover traffic and allow trees to grow closer to the road without safety risks.

I think that this raised median is where they dump all of their excess dirt/concrete/blacktop...which I have to believe is some violation of environmental law.

See: Pennsylvania Turnpike spur routes. (Most notably 66, 43)