I've been watching trees in my community get damaged or die because PennDot uses flail mowers and other harmful maintenance methods on roadside vegetation. These aren't just "weeds" – they're important trees that provide oxygen, prevent erosion, and support wildlife.
The frustrating part? Utility companies already follow ANSI A300 tree care standards, which means they know how to prune trees properly without killing them. But PennDot doesn't have to follow these same guidelines, so our roadside trees suffer.
I started a petition asking PennDot to adopt these proven tree care standards. It would mean training their crews on proper pruning techniques instead of just chopping everything down with mowers.
Have you noticed damaged trees along Pennsylvania roads in your area? If this matters to you too, consider signing and sharing – our trees deserve better care than they're getting.
by Suspicious-Milk-2263
4 Comments
What will happen with a petition? Who would read it, and why would they want to? Might a better effort be to get people statewide to contact their representatives directly?
Sorry OP, the sheer volume of work to be carried out by DOTs all but ensures that they do not have enough time to do it in a more nuanced manner.
This is the way, of the right of way. The slogan is often “clearance before appearance” and they live by it.
But where are they taking them out? They’re required to be removed in the clear zone, which varies in width based on speed limit and road size/traffic volume.
Flail mowers for pruning is pretty old-school though, I get that one.
I saw a crew doing this to a massive patch of tree of heaven this summer. It was about as dense as I’ve seen presumably because they basically Chelsea chop it and encourage lateral growth….every year.