Posted 11/05/2004 04:06:00 PM by Douglas

Tasked with keeping the thousands of miles of Texas highways safe, TX-DOT is still focusing on the most menacing threats to Panhandle-area drivers. Trees. That's right, those big woody, stationary objects next to the road.

The gently rolling highways leading into Canadian are dotted with small groves of Siberian elms, hackberry trees and looming cottonwoods, their leaves aglow in golden fall colors.

To some area residents, they're an all too-sparse reminder of nature's beauty and a potent lure for fall tourism.

But to highway safety experts, they're a deadly accident waiting to happen.

Last spring, TxDOT's initial proposal was to cut down 1,185 trees along roadways in Hemphill, Roberts, Lipscomb, Ochiltree and Gray counties, but Mark Tomlinson, TxDOT's Amarillo district engineer, said public outcry has caused the agency to review its plans.

Is TxDOT really that stupid, or are they just looking for a way to waste money? I know! This is probably president Bush's timber company that he didn't know he owned.

Maybe I'm missing something, but isn't a tree next to the road an exponentially smaller threat to anything that's actually in the road? Unless these trees jump out at oncoming cars, there's nothing to you do hit them unless you run of the road. And if you make it a habit of running off the road, you're going to run into something eventually. Trust me. I've got some research data on this one. But they get dumber:

Bill Jordan, another TxDOT official, said a contractor recently completed an environmental survey of all trees in a 30-foot "clear zone'' along U.S. Highways 60 and 83 in Hemphill and five other area counties.

The survey indicated that cutting down trees in those areas would not significantly impact any endangered or threatened species. The tree-cutting proposal would have a limited impact on some hawks and other raptors, he said, but those species and other bird species probably would move nesting sites.

Reducing the number of trees along roadways, Jordan said, could reduce raptor kills of Texas horned lizards and other prey species.

This is the kind of thing that makes me want to become a Libertarian anarchist. Do you have become this stupid when you work for the state, or do they only hire idiots? Never underestimate a state employee and a "survey." So by clearing all trees 30 feet from the highway, no endangered birds are going to be impacted? How are you going to swing that?

Overall, the impact to nesting birds would be minimal, Jordan said, if the trees are cut down when birds are not nesting.

Are they going to leave notes in their nests?

Dear bird:

Beat it, 'cause we're cutting down your tree so some drunk cowboy doesn't swerve off the road and ruin his new truck. We apologize for any inconvenience this might cause you, but frankly, you're eating to many horned toads.

Your friendly TxDOT morons.

Seriously, doesn't TxDOT have anything better to do than removing trees from an already treeless plain?

Labels: Killer Trees