Many people regard Interstates as "necessary" scars on our landscapes. We would love to live without them, but alas in our day and age, we could never tolerate life without these economic arteries. In recent years, state Departments of Transportation (DOTs) have grudgingly recognized that Interstate Highways can compliment their surroundings. Efforts have been made to plant swaths of "Wildflowers" on medians and right-of-ways to create occasional splashes of color. Local communities are being allowed to access exit ramps to install attractive entranceway plantings, much of which is subsidized by sate and federal sources of funds. Don't get me wrong, these are all fine and positive developments regarding interstate highway vegetation management, but I still have to wonder if we can't develop a better overall plan.
Let me share some of my observations regarding interstate highway vegetation management here in Virginia. My first observation has to be that it is highly variable. From one county to the next, the degree of intervention varies extensively. In Virginia, each county unit of the state DOT maintains the interstate highway that traverses that county. Each unit is led by a Resident Engineer who sets the agenda...who determines how to allocate his budget. So, I have observed, that in Rockingham County, mowing is pretty much limited to shoulder areas. But starting at the Augusta County line, the right-of-way is mowed from fence to fence. That's right, vast swaths of coarse Ky31 tall fescue are mowed at least once a summer, the only exceptions being some very steep side slopes, accessible only to mountain goat like critters. It is this very phenomenon that generated this column. For several weeks I observed the daily advance of the contractor tractor mowing crews. Then when I thought they were done, low and behold, out came the weed wackers leveling some of the smaller too steep side slopes.
In engineering, the attention to detail is good. In low impact area vegetation management, such attention to detail is bordering on being anally retentive. Who knows why they finally quit and left some of the larger gullies untouched. Perhaps the maintenance budget funds were exhausted? (did anyone ever tell the resident Engineer that Virginia was suffering a financial crisis?). Perhaps some state legislator finally said enough is enough and contacted the Department about the over zealous activity? Hell, maybe the contractor just ran out of gas? Who knows?
