FOCUS ON INFRASTRUCTURE INNOVATIONS

Quantifying the benefits of roadside vegetation

Construction management Assistant Professor Kyeong Rok Ryu is helping cultivate a better-looking Texas by creating best practices for roadside vegetation.

“The transportation sector recognizes the potential benefits of various types of roadside vegetation,” Dr. Ryu says. “Some of these include reduced roadside maintenance, urban heat island effect, and localized flooding, as well as improved local air quality, water quality, resiliency, safety, aesthetics, pedestrian space, and carbon sequestration.”

With co-principal investigators June Young Park, assistant professor of civil engineering, and Joowon Im, assistant professor of landscape architecture, he will quantitatively evaluate various types of landscape and vegetation installations to help measure their tangible benefits. The team will also provide guidance for statewide implementation and evaluation of such installations with safety, sustainability, resiliency, and maintenance benefits for the Texas roadway system in mind.

“Implementation could not only lead to a better-looking Texas, but also could improve the air and reduce flooding in the state,” says Melanie Sattler, interim chair in the Department of Civil Engineering.