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- 10 - The purpose of these remarks is not to suggest that safety is not an important reason for managing <strong>road</strong> <strong>verges</strong>, but rather that an uncritical assumption that mowing <strong>verges</strong> is esseneial to safety may not always be I true. Engineering I In purely engineering terms, the management of <strong>road</strong> <strong>verges</strong> would be concerned with maintaining the stability of the <strong>road</strong> formation, and primarily with questions of surface and subsurface drainage. Although 20 counties gave drainage as a reason for cutting <strong>road</strong>side vegetation able 3), another 20 did not consider this a factor and were more concerned about keeping their drainage grips and channels clear by other methods. It is a matter of observation that mowing machines often ride over I and miss the sides of drainage grips and channels leaving long tufts of vegetation. Consequently ordinary mowing may contribute little to water movement. It is likely that several of the 20 counties who did give drainage as a reason were in fact thinking more specifically of channel clearance as a management operation, as opposed to grass mowing. However, there were six counties who mentioned the advantage of letting air and light into the highway to help keep it dry and this could be a useful aspect of mowing. Two counties noted blocking of pipes by roots; other counties mentioned the effects of vegetation extracting sub-soil water in the course of growth. Eleven counties described problems with accumulation of cut vegetation blocking drains; one said this problem did not occur with flail cuttings, another said that flail cuttings were less of a problem than haymower cuttings, two others said that I flail cuttings were much more troublesome than those from the haymower. In connection with the drainage of the verge itself one county noted how much more difficult wet <strong>verges</strong> were to cut than dry ones, although with side mounted mowing machines this was less of a problem as the tractor itself did not necessarily have to travel over the wet ground. Although not specifically mentioned, one of the engineering functions of <strong>road</strong>side vegetation is the control of erosion by binding the formation together. Plants with different rooting characteristics have varying importance in this respect and management to encourage a wide variety of plants ranging from deep tap rooted species to wide spreading fibrous rooted ones would give maximum support. Management of newly sown areas following <strong>road</strong> improvement is recommended with this object in mind at a period when the formation may be especially liable I to erosion (DOE Technical Memorandum ~5/68). I I t I I I I I I I 1 I I I I I
Fig.1. Mileages of wholly maintained County Council <strong>road</strong>s /
Page 1 and 2: ROAD VERGES ON RURAL ROADS Manageme
Page 3 and 4: Summary INDEX Chapter 1 Extent and
Page 5: SUMMARY This report is based on vis
Page 8 and 9: and may sometimes be ignored. Counc
Page 10 and 11: - 4 - Using the average figure of 1
Page 12 and 13: explain aberrant results for any of
Page 14 and 15: Table 3. Number of County Highway A
Page 18 and 19: Fire and snow control were other hi
Page 20 and 21: (Conium maculatum) by three countie
Page 22 and 23: degree of polarisation of ideas bet
Page 24 and 25: Table 4. Suggested prioritiea that
Page 26 and 27: quantity of product but not quality
Page 28 and 29: July 1971 Letter HE 138/4/02 to Div
Page 30 and 31: COUNTY TRUNX PRINCIPAL CLASS 11 CLA
Page 32 and 33: COUNTY TRUNK PlllNCIPlL CLASS I1 CL
Page 34: COUNTY TRUNK, CUSS I, CUSS 11, CUSS
Page 37 and 38: u. Type* of cutting machines uaed i
Page 39 and 40: machines are also more difficult th
Page 41 and 42: for application of herbicide in a p
Page 43 and 44: u9. Use of Ch-isol #prays (MH with
Page 45 and 46: Carmarthen - to liberate machines f
Page 47 and 48: Table 10. Cost per mile per season
Page 49 and 50: 2. Rear mounted flail: multi-swath.
Page 51 and 52: The figures can be compared with th
Page 53 and 54: -. Costa per acre per occasion for
Page 55 and 56: - 48 - The average of 4.97 can be c
Page 57 and 58: flush verges are p
Page 59 and 60: =. Individual couniy specifications
Page 61 and 62: In the building up of verge
Page 63 and 64: CHAPTER 6. HIGHWAY TREE PLANTING; B
Page 65 and 66: BOUNDARY REINSTATENENT Following th
Page 67 and 68:
Whether the landowner or the Counci
Page 69 and 70:
T ~ 18. ~ policies I ~ for tree pla
Page 71 and 72:
Cardiganahire Camthenshire svll of
Page 73 and 74:
l.bl€ 19 (contid) Yorklhire - E$t
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