# why mow highway embankments? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 22, 2001, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-mow-highway-embankments/69752 "2001-06-22T06:36:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![evilhanz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba8739/32.png) [@evilhanz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/evilhanz)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2001, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-mow-highway-embankments/69752/1 "2001-06-22T06:36:34Z")
I can only think of two reasons why a state might invest time and money to mow highway embankments and median strips: 1. to facilitate litter pick-up, and 2. to reduce the risk of brush fires in the event of an accident or due to careless smokers. It’s particularly galling because important roadwork seems to be ignored, yet the mowers run like clockwork. Am I missing something? The benefits do not seem to outweigh the substantial costs of manpower and equipment. I’ve seen brush fires in areas that have been mowed, and litter is just as easy to spot when crews walk along the roadside whether the grass is ankle-high or knee-high. Is it just busy work for the Department of Transportation? ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2001, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-mow-highway-embankments/69752/2 "2001-06-22T06:45:26Z")
I think it’s a lot easier for everyone to mow the grass than it is for them to fix the pavement. People like the grass to be mowed. It looks nicer. We like the pavement to be fixed, but we also don’t like lanes to be closed for construction. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2001, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-mow-highway-embankments/69752/3 "2001-06-22T06:49:01Z")
Could be either, though if I’m not mistaken keeping the grasses short helps out those unfortunate people suffering from hayfever and what-not. ---
**Author:** ![Jimpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c68b51/32.png) [@Jimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimpy)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2001, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-mow-highway-embankments/69752/4 "2001-06-22T07:00:06Z")
Years ago, Akron, Ohio didn’t mow the embankments along state route 8. THe reason they started was trash. It’s not easier to pick up trash in a tangle of weeds, trees, bushes and grass that gets waist high and higher. Also, the cost of mowing the embankments is small compaired to road repair. There is currently a 10 year $30 million dollar program to fix I-77 and US-62, from Arlington road to downtown Canton. That’s over a million dollars a mile. You could get a whole lot more that ten years of mowing for a million dollars a mile. ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2001, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-mow-highway-embankments/69752/5 "2001-06-22T11:59:44Z")
Reducing the number of “pest” animals, by removing their hiding places, is one reason given locally. ---
**Author:** ![Lady\_Ice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f1d935/32.png) [@Lady\_Ice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lady_Ice)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2001, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-mow-highway-embankments/69752/6 "2001-06-22T12:03:57Z")
Here in Michigan, mowing the weeds on the side of the highway is necessary because of our large deer population. The weeds can actually get high enough for the deer to hide in. We have a very large number of car/deer accidents here. Mowing the weeds helps to see the deer coming toward the highway. Trust me, hitting a 500lb. deer does a lot more damage to your car than a few potholes. If thats not bad enough, the people in the Upper Penisula have to contend with moose. ---
**Author:** ![Chas.E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e99b99/32.png) [@Chas.E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chas.E)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2001, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-mow-highway-embankments/69752/7 "2001-06-22T12:11:58Z")
I should also note an incident here in Iowa. A woman fell asleep at the wheel while driving on the interstate, and crashed in a ditch far away from the main road. She was not discovered for 5 days, and due to the lack of prompt medical attention, had damage severe enough to require both her legs to be amputated. Cutting the grass helps avoid accidents like this going undiscovered. ---
**Author:** ![slortar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@slortar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slortar)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2001, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-mow-highway-embankments/69752/8 "2001-06-22T12:34:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lady Ice \* > \*\*Here in Michigan, mowing the weeds on the side of the highway is necessary because of our large deer population. > The weeds can actually get high enough for the deer to hide in. > We have a very large number of car/deer accidents here. Mowing the weeds helps to see the deer coming toward the highway. > > Trust me, hitting a 500lb. deer does a lot more damage to your car than a few potholes. If thats not bad enough, the people in the Upper Penisula have to contend with moose. \*\* Actually, moose population in the UP is very low–many deer carry a brainworm that’s extraordinarily fatal to moose. They occasionally airlift moose in from Canada (yes, really), but they never seem to take. ☹ Another reason, at least in places like the UP, is because of snow. When it blizzards, you REALLY want broad embankments, so when your car spins off the road, you don’t smack anything big, like a tree. ---
**Author:** ![Bottle\_of\_Smoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Bottle\_of\_Smoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bottle_of_Smoke)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2001, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-mow-highway-embankments/69752/9 "2001-06-22T12:49:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\* you REALLY want broad embankments, so when your car spins off the road, you don’t smack anything big, like a tree.\*\* This is one of the reasons given why they mow around here. If the embankments are left untended eventually you can have trees sprout up, which pose a threat to anyone that spins off the road. If the embankment is mowed, nothing big gets a chance to take root. ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2001, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-mow-highway-embankments/69752/10 "2001-06-22T15:21:57Z")
A friend on mine said when he was little in Austria during WW2 they stopped mowing the sides of the roads so there was some place to hide when airplanes flew overhead. ---
**Author:** ![Jman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jman/32/4416_2.png) [@Jman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jman)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2001, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-mow-highway-embankments/69752/11 "2001-06-22T15:25:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jimpy \* > \*\*Years ago, Akron, Ohio didn’t mow the embankments along state route 8. THe reason they started was trash. It’s not easier to pick up trash in a tangle of weeds, trees, bushes and grass that gets waist high and higher. > > Also, the cost of mowing the embankments is small compaired to road repair. There is currently a 10 year $30 million dollar program to fix I-77 and US-62, from Arlington road to downtown Canton. That’s over a million dollars a mile. You could get a whole lot more that ten years of mowing for a million dollars a mile. \*\* \ Wow, Jimpy, you live RIGHT where I grew up, and where my parents still live. I was on the border of Stark/Summit counties (about 4 miles from the Arlington/I-77 interchange), in Jackson Twp. Cool! \ ---
**Author:** ![mouthbreather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a698b9/32.png) [@mouthbreather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mouthbreather)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2001, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-mow-highway-embankments/69752/12 "2001-06-22T16:25:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jeff \* > \*\*Could be either, though if I’m not mistaken keeping the grasses short helps out those unfortunate people suffering from hayfever and what-not. \*\* How does that help? ---
**Author:** ![Jeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2001, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-mow-highway-embankments/69752/13 "2001-06-22T17:02:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by mouthbreather \* > \*\*How does that help? \*\* Not quite sure, though I saw a news segment some time ago where a businessman was complaining that a highway embankment near his establishment was not being mowed, and that the long grasses were badly aggravating his hayfever. I’m assuming that shorter grasses = less pollen released into the air. ---
**Author:** ![DJScherr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@DJScherr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DJScherr)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2001, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-mow-highway-embankments/69752/14 "2001-06-22T18:17:44Z")
Speaking as a person who had their car break down along the highway this last weekend. It sure is nice to have it mowed so you don’t have to trounce through high grass to get to help. Also, it stops pests a bit… I mean I walked through maybe ten feet of high grass (on the exit ramp) and got a freakin woodtick!! in TEN FEET!!! I would hate to have seen how many I would have gotten if I had to walk through a couple hundred yards of grass. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2001, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-mow-highway-embankments/69752/15 "2001-06-23T01:14:20Z")
Out here in the tallgrass prarie states (Indiana, Illinois, others) unmowed native grasses can grow 5-8 feet tall (height varies with rainfall) You can hide a lot of crashed vehicles, deer, wildlife, and other things in grass like that. Also makes it hard to see on-coming traffic when merging. Gotta do something about it. Although in the cloverleaf on/off ramps they sometimes only mow the outer circumfrence of the circles and leave the rest to grow tall, where it won’t interfere with looking for oncoming traffic. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2001, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-mow-highway-embankments/69752/16 "2001-06-23T01:28:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jeff \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by mouthbreather \* > > \*\*How does that help? \*\* > > Not quite sure, though I saw a news segment some time ago where a businessman was complaining that a highway embankment near his establishment was not being mowed, and that the long grasses were badly aggravating his hayfever. I’m assuming that shorter grasses = less pollen released into the air. \*\* The grasses will flower at a certain height, which will put pollen into the air, which will aggravate hayfever. Here in Texas (or at least in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex) we purposefully leave the embankments unmowed, if they have wildflowers, so that the wildflowers will pollinate each other and reseed themselves. I have very mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, I enjoy our colorful display of flowers each year. On the other hand, I do NOT enjoy my sinuses blooming. ---
**Author:** ![Bob\_Scene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Bob\_Scene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bob_Scene)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2001, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-mow-highway-embankments/69752/17 "2001-06-23T02:07:46Z")
The issue of whether or not to mow the right-of-way is possibly the most divisive thing at my agency. I wouldn’t be surprised if huge chunks of Texas break off from the rest of the state because of mowing disputes. Luckily, I am not in a position to be involved in such things. ---
**Author:** ![dqa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dqa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dqa)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2001, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-mow-highway-embankments/69752/18 "2001-06-23T02:22:01Z")
> [@](#): > > [_from Penna. Dept. of Transportation_](http://www.dot.state.pa.us/penndot/Districts/District10.nsf/db10roadside?ReadForm) > **The Department’s goal is to maintain desirable vegetation along the road edge and control the natural tendency of plant succession to replace low growing grass and crown vetch with weeds, shrubs, and trees. If unchecked, biological succession would result in our highway system being overgrown with woody plants. This slow and steady natural invasion, by degrees, causes the highway to be overgrown, reducing sight distance at curves and intersections, and obscuring guide rail, traffic signs and driveways.** As they mention, vegetation need not be limited to grasses, and Pennsylvania makes widespread use of crown vetch. Its advantages are that it does not require mowing, and being highly invasive[1](http://theoak.com/garden/crownvet.html) it can establish itself easily on steep embankments, and presumably competes well against other weeds.[2](http://www.pennline.com/RECL/hydroeros.html) **Jman:** Go Polar Bears. ---
**Author:** ![DougC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@DougC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DougC)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2001, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-mow-highway-embankments/69752/19 "2001-06-23T02:27:45Z")
> [@](#): > > Reducing the number of “pest” animals, by removing their hiding places, is one reason given locally. - Ant - - - Not so much as reduce them as discourage them from taking up residence right on the side of the road. Particularly digging types such as gophers and groundhogs. \*Note that modern underground communication lines tend to follow major highways nowadays. - MC ---
**Author:** ![mouthbreather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a698b9/32.png) [@mouthbreather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mouthbreather)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2001, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-mow-highway-embankments/69752/20 "2001-06-23T05:05:52Z")
Thats makes sense, but mowing grass also sends quite a bit of the pesky sneeze-causers up and about as well. For instance, I am ok in the lawn, but if I have to mow it, I will be a wheezy, sneezy, runny-nosed mess. In my experience, this is worse. Any way to quantify which actually kicks out more of the allergens over the course of a year-- say, letting it grow tall and the pollenation process happens, or mowing it once or twice a month ?