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Page 8 · column 2 of 3 · from the scan, no model involved
I wholeheartedly support the article by Mr. Foster in the Wednesday, Sept. 29 edition of the Rappahannock News. I fully agree that trimming the trees along Route 522 in the county looks great and makes visibility much better but most importantly this work has helped to alleviate a potential health and safety hazard to the people traveling our roads.
The trees and limbs removed were those clearly leaning or hanging over the highway which were dangerous, especially so when weighted down with heavy snow, ice and water. These conditions create an enormous amount of weight to the limbs and undermines the root system, which will ultimately cause the limbs to break or the entire tree to fall.
Additionally, with the removal of these limbs and trees from over the roadways will enable the sun to shine more directly on the roadways, thereby helping to melt the snow and ice, and drying the surface much faster. I also agree that the trimming of trees on our back roads is definitely needed.
I would like to see the same type of effort on our back roads as that performed along Route 522. There are many locations on these roads where it is difficult for vehicles with high vertical heights, i.e. (power company vehicles, moving vans, dump trucks, etc.), to maneuver because of the low ceilings created by low hanging limbs or trees leaning over the roadway.
I believe that the majority of people residing on the back roads in the county are active workers and commute to locations outside the county on a daily basis. These people depart their homes at very early hours in the morning and face the possibility of finding limbs and trees across the roadways on any given day, especially during the winter months and times of heavy rainfall and winds like occurred recently.
VDOT personnel cannot patrol each and every back road 24 / hours each day, therefore in many cases leaving the workload of tree removal to the local resident, if he happens to have a chain saw in his possession and I find that many of the native hollow dwellers have learned a long time ago to be prepared for such events if they expect to get to their place of employment in a timely manner.
To me and many others the benefits realized from tree trimming along our roadways truly outweigh the beauty of the trees as seen through the eyes of many. VDOT has accomplished many jobs along our roadways that have greatly improved them and made them a lot safer, i.e., (widening of roads, installing
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