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    <copyright>Copyright © 2026. National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.</copyright>
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    <managingEditor>tris-trb@nas.edu (Bill McLeod)</managingEditor>
    <webMaster>tris-trb@nas.edu (Bill McLeod)</webMaster>
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      <title>Safe System Approach for Including Trees in Urban and Suburban Roadway Contexts



</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/2381741</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Roadside design guidance typically instructs agencies to limit fixed objects, including trees, along roadways to provide a safer recovery area for errant vehicles. On urban streets, trees are amenities that benefit pedestrians, bicyclists, residents, and others by providing shade, potential traffic calming and speed reductions, and aesthetic appeal.  However, trees are fixed objects that can cause serious injury or fatality if struck by an errant vehicle.

NCHRP Project 17-82, “Proposed Guidance for Fixed Objects in the Roadside Design Guide” explored crash prediction methods and developed design guidelines regarding trees and utility poles in rural non-freeway settings. On roadways with posted speed limits of 30 mph and less, trees are generally accepted as part of the roadside environment. At posted speed limits of 55 mph and greater, facilities for non-motorized users are less likely to be present and vehicular collisions with trees have the potential to result in serious injuries or fatalities. However, research is needed for urban and suburban roadways, particularly in posted speed limit settings between 35 and 50 mph. On these roadways, vehicle collisions with trees are a significant safety concern; however, maximizing properly and responsibly designed tree placements in the roadside environment can benefit public health and community livability.

Research is needed to help state departments of transportation (DOTs) and other transportation agencies advance the knowledge on the safety effects of trees and support guidelines to inform tree planning and landscaping policies, procedures, and practices that support the needs of all roadway users.

The objective of this research is to develop a practitioner’s guide for evaluating the safety effects of trees on urban and suburban roadways with a focus on posted speed limits of 35 to 50 mph.

The practitioner’s guide will include a framework for the placement, maintenance, removal, and replanting of trees and complementary features in roadway environments. This research will consider the needs of all users of the transportation system and support implementation of the Safe System approach.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 22 May 2024 11:59:20 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/2381741</guid>
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      <title>NCHRP Implementation Support Program. Implementing the Benefits of Integrated Stormwater Management (ISM) for Effective Roadside Water Management</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1989272</link>
      <description><![CDATA[NCHRP Project 20-68A, Scan 16-02, “Leading Landscape Design Practices for Cost-Effective Roadside Water Management,” was conducted to investigate how transportation agencies are applying principles and practices of storm water control measures for roadside water management to mitigate adverse impacts of flooding, drought, and temperature extremes affecting their infrastructure.

Although there is a lot of information available from environmental and national highway agencies, only a few state departments of transportation (DOTs) seem to be fully implementing storm water control measures, practices, and recommendations. One reason for this is the lack of a common definition for storm water control measures This lack of standardization can make it difficult to compare approaches and best practices.

The scan team report for NCHRP Project 20-68A, Scan 16-02, identified eight categories of recommendations based on their findings. Information development and sharing is crucial for successful storm water control measures implementation, but there is currently no national effort to create a community of practice or collaborate among the related topical committees at the Transportation Research Board (TRB) and at the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO). Moreover, there are no peer exchanges or conferences held specifically for storm water control measures implementation by state DOTs. To address this, a series of national-level workshops will be conducted to share the scan team's findings and provide a platform for participants to discuss and plan the creation of a community of practice.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this project is to implement the benefits of storm water control measures for effective roadside water management. This objective will be realized by (1) the development of contextual definitions of storm water control measures; (2) the development and conduct of workshops to disseminate information and gather additional information on storm water control measures; and (3) the development of viable approaches for funding and continuation of information exchange on storm water control measures.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 05 Jul 2022 17:16:50 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1989272</guid>
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      <title>Watershed Approach to Mitigating Hydrologic Impacts of Transportation Projects</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1516189</link>
      <description><![CDATA[State departments of transportation (DOTs) are facing increasingly stringent requirements for treating not only the quality but also the quantity of stormwater runoff. State DOTs are required to address project-related hydrologic volume impacts under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and the Clean Water Act, and in some cases, state and local regulations. For example, in Oregon, ESA Biological Opinions for highway projects require maintaining pre-project hydrology for channel-forming flows; in King County, Washington, projects must reestablish pre-development hydrology. 
Increased quantity of stormwater runoff can be a result of increased impervious surfaces and other land use changes, stream channelization, soil compaction, or changes to the precipitation regime (frequency and intensity of storms). These changes alter the storm hydrograph with increased runoff volumes, heightened peak flows, and shortened durations of the runoff event. Hence, hydrologic impacts can increase flooding, trigger and accelerate stream channel change, increase sediment loads and turbidity, alter groundwater recharge, harm aquatic habitat, and reduce low-flow discharges. 
There are a number of effective techniques for mitigating hydrologic change. For example, the impacts of increased impervious surface area can be mitigated by techniques such as reconnecting floodplains; reforestation; or conserving, constructing, or restoring wetlands. These techniques can reduce, delay, and desynchronize peak flows. These techniques also offer important co-benefits, such as providing recreational opportunities and fish and wildlife habitat. However, to be most effective, techniques for addressing runoff volumes require a watershed-based strategy that combines specific techniques into an overall plan for managing the hydrologic impacts from transportation facilities. 
Research is needed to develop a fuller array of effective strategies and techniques for managing increased stormwater runoff volumes and mitigating hydrologic impacts associated with transportation projects. As regulatory requirements increasingly address stormwater runoff quantity, state DOTs need information on a range of techniques that can support effective watershed-based strategies. The research and resulting guidance will support the efforts of engineers, environmental staff, and planners at state DOTs and their regulatory and other partners with flexible approaches to regulatory compliance and improved environmental outcomes. 
The objective of this research is to develop guidance for state DOTs for developing and implementing watershed-based strategies and techniques for mitigating hydrologic impacts of transportation facilities. The results of the research will be guidance on how to:  
(1) Identify opportunities in a watershed to conserve, restore, enhance, or create landscape features for hydrologic mitigation; 
(2) Plan, site, and design features for hydrologic mitigation; 
(3) Quantify the hydrologic outcomes from selected features; and 
(4) Develop strategies for implementing a watershed-based approach to hydrologic mitigation. ]]></description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 19 Jun 2018 13:08:16 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1516189</guid>
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      <title>Modeling Habitat Fragmentation in Relation to Road Systems: A Tool for Transportation Planning in California</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1236715</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Transportation planners increasingly need effective metrics of biological impact to assist in mitigation assessment. We propose to develop Effective Mesh Size, Effective Mesh Density and Landscape Division as implementable metrics of habitat fragmentation for use in transportation planning. These metrics are developed as GIS layers, which can be used in planning and assessment of biological impact, and can be re-calculated for new roads in a scenario modeling environment. These innovative and biologically meaningful measures of landscape fragmentation will be applied to the mapped ranges of 10 key animal species. The expert in Effective Mesh Size, Dr. Jochen Jaeger, will be a Research Ecologist at UC Davis Road Ecology Center for two months to develop the models, once the UC Davis team has compiled the necessary data into the proper formats. Aspects of this methodology have already been adopted by several states in Germany and in Switzerland, and it is currently under assessment in Canada. Final products from the proposed effort will include three new GIS layers, peer-reviewed papers, and a technical report describing their use, that can be adopted directly for transportation planning in California, and that will serve as a model and metric for transportation planners throughout the world.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 03 Jan 2013 15:51:47 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1236715</guid>
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    <item>
      <title>Enhancing Delaware's Highways: A Natural Vegetation Project</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1228184</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The project will investigate vegetation models conceived to restore Delaware&amp;rsquo;s roadside landscapes to a more natural state reflecting the regional flora.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 03 Jan 2013 13:16:11 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1228184</guid>
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