A study by the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) is examining ways to use native plants to recreate the visual characteristics of the original native landscapes near highways and interchanges. This is an alternative to the previous practice of creating a park-like setting with canopy trees and high-maintenance lawns. An interchange in Austin was used as a test case and context-sensitive methods were applied. The first goals were to eliminate the need for hand maintenance wherever possible, especially near travel lanes, prevent erosion on slopes and improve appearance and maintainability of detention ponds. A great deal of water flows through the site, making water quality an important issue. Today, it resembles the ecology of the Texas Hill Country live oak savanna, with a new maintenance schedule that reduces mowing and other forms of mechanized maintenance. Guidelines are being developed for other sites like it.
Abstract