Roadway Landscapes - (probably the biggest horticultural design projects ever)

                                                    Points of interest on the roads to keep us aware

Have you noticed a lot of councils are keeping the grass verges along main roads uncut nowadays? 

The grass might be cut once or twice a year leaving wild flowers to flourish and keeping down shrubs and trees that might try and grow.  

The area directly near the road up to 1 metre or more is usually cut often to stop any grasses from bending into the road when it’s wet but the rest is left to grow on. It’s a great idea both in terms of biodiversity and also cost to the taxpayer.  This isn’t where the attention to detail stops for road planners though. You might be surprised to learn that their influence can stretch to the horizon you see from the road. 

Highway landscape planning is a hidden gem that doesn’t generally get any recognition. It’s an important aspect of landscape design on par with the likes of Lancelot Brown (Capability Brown) who designed around 170 parks on the 1700’s. Lancelot took into consideration all of the details in a landscape from the foreground to the horizon and replicated nature with focal points of interest. This type of design did have its critics and comes in and out of fashion, some say it was just like designing a field but there’s more than just pitting in a hedgerow to look nice. 

When land is developed it could change the existing ecology such as wildlife, flora well as the aesthetic, visual and the non-visual attributes of the landscape so it’s important for the designers to do a lot of research and attempt to keep a lot of the natural features intact without the need for protestors to live in trees to highlight fragmenting the countryside.

The aim of the landscape designer is to design treatments that will develop into self-sustaining habitats that do not present a future hazard to the road user or require the use of fertilizer, general broad-leaved herbicides and frequent cutting or mowing regimes.

Points of interest

A good planner will make sure that certain factors stay in a road designs. Keep the view interesting and varied including things such as lit up local landmarks and variying tree lines. Even adding distant mountains and seascapes creates a varied backdrop. 

The View from the Vehicle

The two fundamental types of views are the ʻpanoramaʼ and the ʻvistaʼ. A panorama refers to a broad view with a good vantage point, while a vista refers to a framed view e.g. a view restricted by bounding margins such as trees.

The relationship between the driver and passenger within the vehicle, and the roadside landscape is more complex than the relationship between a person who is viewing the landscape from a stationary position; the mobile road user views many more features and landscape types as they move along a road corridor so this type of landscaping is totally different to how you would view the garden from a kitchen window.

Certain features of the landscape can only be viewed at particular speeds. All views are restricted or bounded by the confinements of the vehicle structure, while at the same time being framed or blocked by vegetation, buildings and other infrastructure along with elements of the natural terrain.

A lot of thought has gone into designing todays road networks. The designers don’t always get it right , here are just a few considerations they need to look at just on the grass verge. This is even before any consideration ois given to the wider landscape.

Key Issues for the Immediate Roadside Verge

• The verge should be of the minimum width required to provide for its safety and design functions, which include the provision of sightlines and the accommodation of signs and lighting columns.
• The verge should function as an environmental and physical buffer between the road and the wider landscape.
• Appropriate treatments should aim to establish a robust, low maintenance grass sward.
• The verge should be maintained to a minimum width with minimum input of natural resources such as fertilizer.
• The treatment should not prove attractive to fauna as this could cause a hazard.
• Medium, wildflowers small trees, hedges, signage, drainage lighting are included here.

This is just for the first couple of metres of the grass verge, we then get to the wider verge area which can be used for attracting wildlife, include large signs and go some way to help correct the defragmentation of the land after the road was built.

If like me you take an interest in these types of matters (I’m a bit of a roadside anorak) you can read the (riveting) 175 page Irish Roads Authority document titled  “A guide to Landscape Treatments” which covers a wide range of conditions that go to make a safe and interesting roadside experience .