The planting along roads fulfills multiple functions such as visual and glare protection, embankment protection, but also as an overflight 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. Hedges that have become too tall and patchy are also maintained by "topping them up" - cutting them about ten centimetres above the ground. What may sometimes seem like radical clear-cutting actually serves as a life-preserving 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 are given 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 standing. 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 large-scale 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 of recent summers. Responding to the increasing number of damaged trees in good time poses major challenges for the road maintenance service.
For the tree maintenance work, some of which can only be carried out with an aerial work platform and special equipment, a so-called felling crane, the roadway is narrowed or closed on one side to secure the work area and traffic is sometimes regulated by construction site traffic lights, depending on the local conditions. The district administration office asks road users for their understanding for the resulting traffic obstructions.
