Broadly termed, these features include trees, lighting, information signs, benches and other features which make a street more comfortable for its users and more attractive.
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Cross-Section Elements: Trees "An important aspect of roadside landscape design is the treatment of trees ... Integrating trees into the design of a facility has many advantages. Trees provide a visual edge to the roadway that helps guide motorists. Trees also add to the aesthetic quality of a highway. In urban and suburban areas, trees soften the edges of arterial
and collector streets ... Trees are an important aspect of community identity and carry a great deal of emotional ties with the residents ... In general, transportation designers must balance safety with other community values when considering facility design and tree preservation." more...
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Flexibility in Highway Design
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Cross-Section Elements: Landscape Design and Plants Landscape design is an important element to help mitigate nuisances and help the roadway fit the surroundings. Goal of landscape design is to provide vegetation to improve aesthetics and safety, lower constructions costs and create enough visual variety along the roadway.
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Flexibility in Highway Design
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Detailing the Design Particularly during the final design phase, it is the details associated with the project that are important. Employing a multidisciplinary design team ensures that important design details are considered and that they are compatible with community values. Often it is the details of the project that are most recognizable to the public. more...
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Flexibility in Highway Design
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Furnishing Your Public Space (opens in a new window)
Learn about the "whys and wherefores" of public-space amenities with this series of features. Each offers design and use guidelines to help lay people and professional designers work with each other. Also included: notable examples of amenities from PPS' image database and, in some cases, information on select manufacturers.
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Project for Public Spaces
Case Study
Merritt Parkway: Greenwich, Connecticut Greenwich, CT
Much has been written and reported about the safety improvements and landscape restoration of the Merritt Parkway which started in the 1990s in Greenwich, Connecticut, a unique community that shaped the approach that was ultimately taken to improve this roadway. The community's influence started long before any formal design process was undertaken, and in fact, and was instrumental in motivating the context sensitive design approach (although not called such at the time). Overall this project can be considered an excellent example of how a road represents so much more to a community than simply a transportation conduit. The future of this roadway was community driven and while the DOT provided the leadership and expertise to accomplish the improvements, their use of other professionals, such as landscape architects and historians, improved the final result. This case study focuses on the initial context sensitive design process which preceded the first improvements to the highway and revitalization of the setting.
Case Study
Landscape and Interpretation Project, US-101 Raymond, WA
This project was part of Washington's scenic byways improvement program. It was a top priority for the city of Raymond to create a visually appealing community for travelers along US-101 and to introduce travelers to the unique Willapa basin, with its forested hills, natural rivers, tidal estuaries, salt marshes, and pristine bay.
Case Study
Intermodal Improvements, US-2, Leavenworth Leavenworth, WA
The purpose of this project was to improve multiple modes of transportation on US-2 through the community of Leavenworth.
Case Study
Added Capacity and Noise Walls - SR-527 Mill Creek, WA
This project was developed to address congestion on a section of SR-527 between 164th Street SE and 132nd Street SE. SR 527 highway passes through downtown Mill Creek.
Vegetation management can be used to enhance the scenic quality of a byway and to screen elements that detract from the scenic quality. Vegetation can also be integral to the visitor's experience by providing a variety of spaces for the motorist to pass through.
Traveling through ancient trees that provide a canopy across the road or bursting through a tunnel of shrubs into a wide, grassy meadow can be a memorable experience. The change of seasons can draw visitors to your byway at different times of the year to see fall color, play in the snow, or cool down in the shade of the forest.
Vegetation management begins with a thorough inventory of the plant communities within the corridor, their health, and their contribution to the scenic quality of the byway. Be aware of areas where vegetation impedes sight distances. Identify opportunities where management may improve the health ot variety of plant communities. Look for places where vistas can be created by thinning trees to open up views.
"Measures in places like in Birmingham, Michigan, show reduced speeds of 10-15 mph when street trees are present on same width streets. Landscaping is now considered a primary component of traffic calming."
