The Value and Urgency of Transportation Forestry
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Abstract
The community and ecological benefits of trees and forests along roadways and other transportation infrastructure are important. Historically, the dialogue surrounding trees in transportation systems has focused on safety and crash reduction. We propose the sub-field of “Transportation Forestry” to maximize the benefits and minimize the risks of trees and supporting green infrastructure along transportation corridors. Transportation Forestry intersects urban/community forestry, landscape architecture, transportation and urban planning, civil/automotive engineering, and environmental/public health. These disciplines and fields collectively enable appropriate siting, selecting, planting, and maintaining green infrastructure proximal to transportation infrastructure while emphasizing prevention and remedy of injustices. We describe the value of establishing this sub-field and call for action that promotes a Transportation Forestry workforce. Essential research questions are provided to build a foundation of evidence for best practices. We demonstrate that this sub-field can advance healthy transportation development and climate change adaptation/mitigation.
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Trees and vegetation provide extensive societal benefits, as do transportation systems that connect people with essential needs and services. Yet transportation infrastructure also concentrates heat, pollution, and noise. Integrating forestry with transportation systems has myriad benefits, but most communities cannot realize these benefits due to challenges in communication and integration across professional disciplines. We propose Transportation Forestry as a new subfield to unlock the full potential of nature-based solutions within transportation systems, enabling extensive and equitable benefits for environmental quality, human health, and sustainability. We outline the necessary approaches to research, practice, and training for deliberately integrating trees and vegetation into transportation infrastructure.
https://doi.org/10.32942/X2ZS54
Social and Behavioral Sciences
urban forestry, transportation infrastructure, transportation forestry, Green Infrastructure, Public health, Landscape Architecture, Urban planning, civil engineering, Environmental Health, Climate change adaptation, Climate change mitigation
Published: 2024-05-06 11:41
Last Updated: 2026-01-02 08:37
- Version 6 - 2025-12-16
- Version 5 - 2025-12-09
- Version 4 - 2025-03-03
- Version 3 - 2025-03-03
- Version 2 - 2024-05-02
- Version 1 - 2024-05-02
CC BY Attribution 4.0 International
Conflict of interest statement:
None
Data and Code Availability Statement:
Not applicable
Language:
English
Views: 1435
Downloads: 1094
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- last seen: 2026-05-20T01:45:00.602351+00:00