Not Just a Pretty Face: Roadside Vegetation Plays Practical, Safety and Economic Roles

This article describes a novel roadside vegetation management program that saves money, reduces maintenance, reduces carbon emissions, and returns unused areas of right-of-ways to the way they looked a few hundred years ago. The project, known as the Hoosier Roadside Heritage Program and undertaken by the Indiana Department of Transportation and a private group called Save the Dunes, involves planting wildflower seeds native to the area along U.S. 12. Not only does it restore natural habitat, but it cuts down on mowing costs. The article describes how the project was managed, what worked and what didn’t. It notes that the Indiana DOT’s LaPorte County grows its own seeds for the flowers it plants along the road at three seed sites. The article also describes a similar partnership between the Mississippi Department of Transportation and the Mississippi State University.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/oclc/1519687
• Authors:
  • Barbaccia, Tina Grady
• Publication Date: 2009-5

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: Photos;
• Pagination: pp 8-10, 12, 14
• Serial:
  • Better Roads
  • Volume: 79
  • Issue Number: 5
  • Publisher: James Informational Media, Incorporated
  • ISSN: 0006-0208
  • Serial URL: http://www.betterroads.com

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Highway safety; Roadside flora; Roadside improvement; Vegetation
• Identifier Terms: Indiana Department of Transportation
• Geographic Terms: Indiana
• Subject Areas: Highways; Maintenance and Preservation; I15: Environment; I60: Maintenance;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01137481
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: UC Berkeley Transportation Library
• Files: BTRIS, TRIS, ATRI
• Created Date: Jul 31 2009 8:47AM