Why is it necessary to cut the grass on the sides of highways or the median strips?
I’m assuming there’s a reason other than aesthetics. Seems like it takes a fair amount of work to do the work, and it causes some disruption to traffic as they usually have to close a lane to do it.
But it also seems like it would be better for wildlife to leave the higher grass.
Is it safety? Visibility? Fire prevention? Anyone know?
In: Engineering
It is mostly safety. Obviously you need to mow the grass around corners, especially at intersections, so that the car drivers can see each other. But even on the straight sections you have animals and sometimes kids and drunks in the median who might wander into the road without much notice. By mowing the grass drivers can see these and take evasive action. And sometimes cars crashes into the median and may be hidden by the tall grass making it harder to rescue them.
There are also seedlings for bushes and trees growing in the median. If these are allowed to grow they might become big enough to stop a car. If a car crashes into the median and hits one of these trees they will instantly stop and do more damage to the car and occupants rather then slide along the grass slowing down more gently. Mowing the grass prevents these seedling from growing into full size trees and bushes.
Some maintenance crews do mow the highways more often then is needed for safety. And this have more to do with aesthetics. But this is not the primary reason. They would need to mow even if they did not care about the aesthetics, just maybe not just as often.
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