The View from the Road: Costs and Benefits of Roadside Urban Forests for Business Districts (WAUF-97-003)

This project concentrated on research to learn the opinions of the public in relation to trees and vegetation in urban freeway roadsides.

A national survey was conducted to learn more about public preferences and perceptions regarding trees and vegetation in urban freeway roadsides. In response to images depicting a visual array of landscape management treatments, both drivers and business people most preferred settings having tree plantings that screen adjacent commercial land uses. The research also investigated public attitudes about roadside functions, uses and public willingness to support roadside management expenditures. Generally, drivers prefer more trees in urban roadsides. The public values roadsides that provide ecological benefits. Large signs are not preferred. Drivers also attribute more positive characteristics to communities that are greener. Despite favoring more vegetation in the roadside, drivers were neutral in their support of greater fiscal resources for roadside management. Increasingly, transportation agencies are planning and managing urban roadsides to achieve multiple objectives and perform multiple functions. These research results suggest landscape practices that can create visual quality for drivers and provide visibility for commercial properties adjacent to freeway roadsides. Outcomes offer insights on how to more effectively incorporate urban forestry into the planning and management of high-speed urban transportation corridors.

Project objectives:

The goal of this study was to assess the perceived costs and benefits of the urban forest in freeway roadsides and rights-of-way, with attention to the interests of adjacent businesses and commerce. Many studies have documented the multiple benefits and satisfactions of urban vegetation. Most have focused on parks and residential settings, overlooking the importance of the urban forest to transportation systems and private enterprise. In a study on roadside perceptions Schauman and others (1992) found "no body of research ... on the relationships between the driver and the landscape beyond the paved area of the road." This study addressed that void.

Four issues were proposed for investigation:

1)Drivers' attitudes and values regarding the urban forest

visual preferences - amenity values - patronage behavior - willingness to pay

2)Business owners' knowledge and understanding of the urban forest

visual preferences — values and attitudes toward trees

3)Assessment of roadside urban forest benefits and satisfactions

community perceptions (image, identity) - economic vitality - environmental quality

4)Appraisal of alternatives for fiscal support of roadside urban forests

driver and business willingness-to-pay — attitudes about indirect and direct support of roadside landscape

Attachments

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