MPC Research Reports
Report Details

Title:	The Unresolved Relationship between Street Trees and Road Safety
Authors:	Wesley Marshall, Yaneev Golombek, Nicholas Coppola, and Bruce Janson
University:	University of Colorado Denver
Publication Date:	Jul 2019
Report #:	MPC-19-376
Project #:	MPC-489
TRID #:	01717794
Keywords:	clear zones, crash data, geographic information systems, highway safety, laser radar, mapping, methodology, remote sensing, statistical analysis, trees, urban areas

Abstract

The roadside area where fixed-object hazards are explicitly minimized is called the clear zone, which became standard design practice soon after the 1966 Congressional hearings on road and automobile safety. Mounting evidence, however, is beginning to cast doubt on what we think we know about the impact of roadside clear zones on actual safety outcomes. This is particularly an issue with street trees in urban contexts, which are known to provide economic, environmental, and livability benefits, but are also widely considered a road safety detriment.

How to Cite

Marshall, Wesley, Yaneev Golombek, Nicholas Coppola, and Bruce Janson. The Unresolved Relationship between Street Trees and Road Safety, MPC-19-376. North Dakota State University - Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute, Fargo: Mountain-Plains Consortium, 2019.