Tree-lined Avenues in danger
Big old trees, with spreading crowns that reach out to each other to create a canopy over the street – if we don’t care and protect the trees along European streets, one day it will no longer be possible to enjoy this experience while driving down an avenue. The number of tree-lined avenues is diminishing every year.
There are many different threats to this unique cultural heritage
The age of trees
Most such avenues date from the 19th or early 20th century, which means that most of the trees that line avenues are over 100 and some even up to 250 years old. Only by constantly replacing old, diseased trees and planting new rows of trees can the tree-lined avenues and their typical character be preserved.
Traffic
‘Avenues’ are tree-lined streets. However, that’s precisely what puts them in harm’s way. In the northern countries, the use of road salt in winter attacks the roots of the trees and contaminates the soil, thus contributing to killing off the trees. Many municipalities, such as those in Germany, have been using ever more road salt in recent year without considering alternatives.
Then there are the exhaust gases of vehicles, which weaken and harm these trees.
During construction work on such avenues, the bark and roots are damaged time and again, making it difficult to impossible for the trees to recover.
The costs of states and municipalities
The preservation and protection of tree-lined avenues is not cheap. The stability of trees has to be checked continuously and particularly dangerous points have to be protected by guardrails and other road safety measures. All of that results in high expenses for states and municipalities.
Debate on road safety and the widening of roads
Tree-lined avenues are old roads. They were laid down at a time when one could not have imagined the level of traffic that exists today. Many such avenues are therefore narrow streets that require us to adapt the way we drive. The widening of roads spelled the end for most tree-lined avenues in the past, just as it still does today. The last remaining tree-lined avenues are again at the heart of transport policy debates today. Guidelines for road safety on avenues and the widening of roads endanger the street trees. What is needed is a reasonable balancing of interests between road safety and the protection of such avenues. These two goals are not at all incompatible. Neither must be implemented at the expense of the other.