Visual quality of the roadside is a topic of
increasing interest, and several DOTs have conducted
surveys to try to identify the nuances of driver preferences.
The following stewardship guidelines were developed
by WSDOT to maintain the visual quality of the roadside:
[N]
- Identify opportunities to partner with adjacent
land owners to preserve or reveal desirable views
and roadside segments that enhance or maintain corridor
continuity. (It is not WSDOT policy to remove vegetation
to open up views toward commercial properties.) Balance
desirable visual functions with the needs of roadway
users and adjacent land owners. Coordinate with the
regional or headquarters Landscape Architect. On Scenic
Byways coordinate with the Heritage Corridors Program
Office.
- Enhance or retain vegetation to screen undesirable
views and to meet the requirements of the Roadside
Classification Plan (corridor continuity, blending
with, and buffering adjacent land uses).
- Maintain low growing vegetation or limb up trees
to retain desirable views.
- Carefully consider actions before removing vegetation
to open up views. Consider whether development adjacent
to the highway is likely to eliminate the view after
removing vegetation. Analyze the angle of view from
the driver's perspective and minimize removal of vegetation
to meet the view objective. Consider selective removal
of tree limbs or removal of only the limbs on the
lower one third of the tree to reveal desirable views.
Construction projects, transportation systems, spraying
and mowing operations, use of forage mulches that have
not been certified weed-free mulches and other erosion
control products can facilitate the spread of plant
and animal species outside their natural range, exacerbating
the costs imposed by invasive species. In the past,
erosion control has involved the planting of many species
that are now controlled as invasives, including aggressive
sweet clovers, alfalfa, smooth brome, trefoil, and
perennial rye. Importation of topsoils to projects
often increases ragweeds, thistles, and sweet clovers.
Ill-timed maintenance disturbances like blading, mowing,
ditch dredging, and bare-grounding have been known
to increase weeds such as kochia, foxtails, thistles,
and milkweeds. Movement of construction equipment from
a weedy site to a non weedy site can transport undesirable
seeds.[N]
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