Landscape Design and Its Relation to the Modern Highway

Details

• Creators:
  Simonson, Wilbur H.
• Corporate Creators:
  United States. Department of Commerce. Bureau of Public Roads
• Corporate Contributors:
  United States. Department of Transportation. Federal Highway Administration
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  Arterial Highways Highways History Landscape Design
• Series:
  FHWA Highway History Website Articles
• Resource Type:
  Web Document
• Right Statement:
  Public Domain
• Geographical Coverage:
  United States
• Corporate Publisher:
  United States. Department of Transportation. Federal Highway Administration
• Abstract:
  This is an anniversary year in the history of highway landscape development. It was just two decades ago--in 1932--that the Federal Government first demonstrated that it was possible to conserve and protect the present and future values of public investment in modern arterial highways. This historic demonstration was the opening of the Mount Vernon Memorial Highway from the Nation's Capital to Mount Vernon on the Potomac in time for the bicentennial celebration of the birth of George Washington. Since then we have heard a good deal about modern highway development. But most of what we have heard and remember has had something to do with the materials of construction and engineering of the roadbed for traffic. We haven't heard nearly so much about the design of the roadside for the protection of that traffic. This is understandable but unfortunate, it seems to me, for the long-term significance of sound highway engineering practice lies in the equal recognition and balanced application- of the principles of landscape design in the coordinated development of roadway and roadside. Economic development of a modern highway, parkway, or expressway, for the fullest public service, requires that most careful consideration be given the amenities of its environment. These considerations are essential for the purpose of better fitting the highway structure into the surroundings and at the same time protecting the improvement from undesirable encroachments of any kind.
• Content Notes:
  The original format of this document was an active HTML page(s) located under https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/infrastructure/history.cfm. The Federal Highway Administration converted the HTML page(s) into an Adobe® Acrobat® PDF file to preserve and support reuse of the information it contained. The intellectual content of this PDF is an authentic capture of the original HTML file. Hyperlinks and other functions of the HTML webpage may have been lost, and this version of the content may not fully work with screen reading software.
• Format:
  PDF
• Collection(s):
  Federal Highway Administration
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:3bb74c35375a424b22c899e7cf1802516165ca342a26ab7a0926dbc96eb12391c8a1f7393e23020daa018901c090dabb76dfa0b8ba84f582c75d2b85042e3416
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/75784/dot_75784_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 986.97 KB ]