The planting along roads fulfills multiple functions such as visual and glare protection, slope protection but also as a flyover aid for certain bird species. In order to maintain these functions in the long term and ensure the safety of road users, regular maintenance measures must be carried out along roads. According to the Federal Nature Conservation Act, maintenance measures for trees and shrubs in the open landscape may be carried out between the beginning of October and the end of February.
During this period, the visibility of signs and traffic signs is restored by cutting back the clearance profile and trees and shrubs that protrude into the carriageway are cut back. Hedgerows that have become too tall and patchy are also maintained by cutting them back to about ten centimetres above the ground. This sometimes looks like a radical clear cut. However, according to the experts from the road construction department, it serves as a life-sustaining and rejuvenating maintenance measure for the plants, from which they quickly recover.
By proceeding in sections, small animals and insects have the opportunity to adapt to the new situation and have enough space to retreat to in the untouched adjacent areas. In addition, trees within the hedgerows that are worth preserving will be identified in advance of the work and left as they are. In addition to the goal of establishing ecologically valuable old-growth stands that characterize the landscape through this selective promotion of individual trees, the selection of the remaining wood species also plays an increasingly important role with regard to adaptation to climate change.
In addition to extensive maintenance, the felling of severely damaged individual trees is a second component of woodland maintenance work. In recent years, increasing fungal diseases on some tree species have already led to the total death of infected trees, and roadside trees are now also suffering from the drought in the summer months of recent years. Responding to the increasing number of damaged trees in good time presents the road maintenance service with major challenges.
For the tree maintenance work, some of which can only be carried out with an aerial work platform and a special device known as a felling crane, the roadway is narrowed locally or closed on one side to secure the work area and traffic is sometimes regulated by construction site traffic lights, depending on local conditions. The district office asks for your understanding for the resulting traffic obstructions.
