November marks the beginning of canopy clearing season for the West Virginia Department of Transportation (WVDOT).
Canopy clearing involves cutting branches and brush overhanging the Mountain State’s roadways. This practice is a crucial part of WVDOT’s data-driven approach to long-term highway maintenance and management. Eliminating shady areas along roads helps ice thaw faster in winter, and rainwater dry more quickly from the road surface, thereby prolonging the life of the pavement on West Virginia’s 39,000 miles of road.
“Water is a highway’s worst enemy,” said Joe Pack, WVDOH Chief Engineer of Operations. “Anything we can do to keep water off our roadways or to help dry up that water will prolong the life of that road.”
By federal law, maintenance crews can only clear canopy between November 15 and March 31. This restriction protects endangered bat populations, which generally do not inhabit trees during these months.
Previously, the West Virginia Division of Highways (WVDOH) was limited to cutting a total of 140 acres of canopy annually, or 14 acres for each of the state’s 10 highway districts. In 2022, at the urging of Secretary of Transportation Jimmy Wriston, this restriction was lifted, allowing districts to clear as much canopy as possible, provided they adhere to the November through March time restriction.
The first year the restriction was lifted, WVDOH crews cut over 500 acres of canopy by focusing on cutting during winter days when they were not actively clearing snow and ice. Last year, the WVDOH cleared 573.40 acres of canopy, and this year the goal is set at 600 acres.
“The canopy acts like a tent, literally trapping moisture on the roadway,” Pack said.
Moisture left on pavement degrades asphalt quickly, so maintenance crews cut away limbs and branches to allow sunlight to reach the roadways below.
Five hundred or 600 acres may not seem like much when spread over 55 counties, but the work is done along roadsides, not in the middle of the forest. Five hundred acres covers enough roadway to stretch from Charleston, West Virginia to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
Maintenance crews use bucket trucks, chainsaws, pole saws, and chippers to clear away branches and limbs and grind them up. Bucket trucks can reach up to 40 feet high, but crews also have pole saws up to 175 feet long for reaching the highest branches.
Similar to mowing grass in the summer, filling potholes, or clearing ice and snow, canopy clearing is part of the WVDOH core maintenance program. These combined maintenance procedures prolong the life of the pavement and improve road safety.
This time of year is also snow removal and ice control season for WVDOH. The crews responsible for clearing snow and ice are the same ones who cut tree canopy and perform other types of road maintenance. WVDOH reminds drivers to slow down in all work zones and allow ample room for snowplows.
