I’m currently researching maintenance guidebooks for verges of all traffic modes, and depending on where you are in the world, the rules on that vary between very strict and barely existent.
Also, responsibility for maintenance varies not only by and between country, state, region, and/or town/community council, but also by type of the transportation mode as well as type of road, waterbody, railway or airport.
Generally speaking, traffic security (including and heavily featuring lines of sight and prevention of dangers which vegetation itself could cause for the particular set of circumstances) are main points when maintaining vegetation.
In short: holy hell, this turned out to be a much more complicated research projectthan even I anticipated. (And I am pretty cautious about getting ahead of myself and promising results to donors which cannot be achieved in time, and with the available funding and personnel!) Also, my focus isn’t even the maintenance itself. I am interested in looking at the status quo, and evaluating it’s impact in biodiversity. The aim is to find practicable measures which foster biodiversity and ensure habitat defragmentation with minimum amount of investment (and change) compared to current maintenance practice.
BTW, dear fellow mutants, if anyone has suggestions, especially something like already compiled literature, I’m all ears. I’m stuck between a lot of rocks and a hard place, so to say. To use a relevant image: it feels like camping in the middle of slip road roundabout interchange at rush hour while trying to record a nightjar.
Nope, but I will have a look. I guess it isn’t in the innermost circle of core relevance to my research, but definitely not at the outermost fringes. Thanks.
Is this a reference to a specific fictional work?
Or the northwestern European custom in some cases of building around troll/fairy rocks?
Or just the idea of a traffic island as a weird liminal space?
I don’t know of anything offhand. But you might want to see if any of the folks from the Well There’s Your Problem podcast have any ideas. They already had an episode of bike path design and anti-design, so they might have some insight into your area of research. Or know someone else who does.
If you’re interested in camping near traffic, here’s a guy who camped at the 15 biggest multi-level interchanges around Helsinki (in Finnish only, I’m afraid, but there are maps and pics!).
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Looks like an interesting channel. I’ll probably check out some vids. The grizzly fence. I’ve always thought of those as related to the “horsehair rope keeps snakes away” idea. (They don’t, but peace of mind’s worth something, right?) Anyway, I think this guy is well intentioned, but maybe a little too jumpy for light trespassing
I have no interest in camping near traffic (ever again) having done it inadvertantly way back in 1987.
Dusk is falling and I’m on the longest straight road (only a two-laner, but went all the way to the horizon and beyond) through northern France on a motorbike. Too knackered to go on, camped on the verge - small tent etc. Was a Sunday night, v. peaceful.
Needless to say, Monday morning saw a high-speed stream of traffic zoom past six inches from the side of my tent. Bloody great HGVs too. Lucky not to get sucked under one of those blighters.
Packed up right sharp and, for the next twenty miles, was flicking off the red ants from my clothing as I’d had the foresight to camp on top of their nest.
There’s one fairly large roundabout in our capital (I live in the neighboring city). The center cannot be accessed in any sensible way, it’s completely natural state and the roundabout is in heavy use. But it would be hideout if I would end up being homeless (or if I just want to hide from everyone). Maybe I could try camping there first.
I have to say, there was one interchange in Arizona on I-10 where the leaf of the clover was the best spot. I set up my tent right in the middle, and it was a very nice experience. I’ll see if I can find the photo I took.
I just traveled via Google Maps from the Texas border to Yuma, Arizona (I-8), but can’t seem to find where I stopped. If I find any photos in my thumb drives, I’ll post it.
