Road verge

A "boulevard" with street trees in Oak Park, Illinois

A road verge, (also verge, city grass, devil's strip, nature strip, parking strip, planting strip, sidewalk buffer, tree belt, tree lawn, utility strip etc.) is a narrow strip of grass or plants and sometimes also trees typically located beside the carriageway (roadway) within the boundary of a road.

The land is often public property with maintenance usually being a municipal responsibility, however some municipal authorities require that abutting property owners maintain these areas and also sidewalks,^[1] in other places is it customary for owners of the abutting private property to maintain these areas.

Benefits include visual aesthetics, increased safety and comfort of sidewalk users, protection from spray from passing vehicles, a space for, benches, bus shelters, street lights and other public amenities. It is also often part of sustainability for water conservation or the management of urban runoff and water pollution^[2][3][4] and may provide useful wildlife habitat. Snow that has been plowed off the street in colder climates may be stored in the area.

The main disadvantage is the right-of-way must be wider, increasing the cost of the road.

Terminology

This term has many synonyms and dialectical differences, with some dialects and idiolects without a term for this area and instead using a circumlocution.^[5]

Terms used include:

• Berm: North Dakota, Indiana.
• Boulevard: Bismarck, North Dakota; Minnesota; Michigan; United States Upper Midwest;^[6] Winnipeg, and western Canada;^[5] Markham, Ontario.
• Boulevard strip: U.S. Upper Midwest.^[6]
• Curb strip: New Jersey.^[7]
• Devil's strip: Akron, Ohio; Northeast Ohio.^[8][9]
• Easement.^[10]
• Grass bay: New Jersey.^[10]
• Grassplot: U.S. Eastern Seaboard.^[6]
• Nature strip: Australia.
• Neutral ground: U.S. Gulf States.^[11]
• Parking: Omaha, Oklahoma, Midwestern United States, Western United States.^[6]
• Parkway: Greater Los Angeles, San Francisco Bay Area, West Coast of the United States, Midwestern United States,^[6] and Chicago, Illinois region.^[3]
• Parking strip: Washington state, Oregon, much of California.
• Parkway strip: Austin, Texas; Fort Collins, Colorado.^[12]
• Planter: SmartCode/New Urbanist terminology.^[13]
• Street allowances: Toronto.
• Street easement.
• Swale: South Florida.^[14][7]
• Terrace: Wisconsin, U.S. Great Lakes region, Midwestern United States.^[6]
• Tree belt: suburbs and residential urban Detroit, Michigan; Massachusetts.
• Tree lawn: Cleveland, Ohio; Terre Haute, Indiana; and other areas. (This is the standard, dictionary-defined term in American English;^[15] other terms are also valid.)
• Verge: England, New Zealand.^[16]

Sustainable urban and landscape design

Planted rain garden in the "tree lawn" zone

In urban and suburban areas, urban runoff from private and civic properties can be guided by grading and bioswales for rainwater harvesting collection and bioretention within the "tree-lawn" - parkway zone in rain gardens. This is done for reducing runoff of rain and domestic water: for their carrying waterborne pollution off-site into storm drains and sewer systems; and for the groundwater recharge of aquifers.^[2]

In some cities, such as Santa Monica, California, city code mandates for "Parkways, the area between the outside edge of the sidewalk and the inside edge of the curb which are a component of the Public Right of Way (PROW) - that the landscaping should require little or no irrigation and the area produce no runoff." ^[3] For Santa Monica, another reason for this use of "tree-lawns" is to reduce current beach and Santa Monica Bay ocean pollution that is measurably higher at city outfalls. New construction and remodeling projects needing building permits require that landscape design submittals include garden design plans showing the means of compliance.^[3]

In some cities and counties, such as Portland, Oregon, street and highway departments are regrading and planting rain gardens in road verges to reduce boulevard and highway runoff. This practice can be useful in areas with either independent Storm sewers or combined storm and sanitary sewers, reducing the frequency of pollution, treatment costs, and released overflows of untreated sewage into rivers and oceans during rainstorms.^[17]

Gallery

• 

  Ginkgo street trees in the "boulevard" area, in Riverside, Illinois

• 

  A planted garden in the "tree lawn", in Raleigh, North Carolina

See also

• Central reservation
• Shoulder (road)
• Urban forestry
• Environmental issues with conservation

References

1. ^ "Designing Sidewalks and Trails for Access, Part II Section 10.1.3: Maintenance responsibilities". Federal Highways Administration. http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/sidewalk2/sidewalks210.htm. 
2. ^ ^{a b} "Passive Rainwater Harvesting". http://www.rainwatercollecting.com/blog/?p=448. Retrieved 2010-07-07. 
3. ^ ^{a b c d} "Parkway Landscaping Policy". http://www.smgov.net/uploadedFiles/Departments/OSE/Categories/Landscape/PLP%2005.27.09.pdf. Retrieved 2010-07007. 
4. ^ "Pruning the Parkway Strip". http://www.enewsbuilder.net/watercon/e_article000771115.cfm?x=bbrDcbK,b2FRwTrq,w. Retrieved 2010-07-07. 
5. ^ ^{a b} John A. C. Greppin (2002-02-01). "The triumph of slang". http://tls.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,25362-1923881,00.html. 
6. ^ ^{a b c d e f} "parking: Definition from Answers.com". http://www.answers.com/topic/parking. Retrieved October 29, 2011. 
7. ^ ^{a b} "Terrace ownership - Ask MetaFilter". http://ask.metafilter.com/22919/Terrace-ownership. Retrieved October 29, 2011. 
8. ^ "Mr. Smarty Pants". The Austin Chronicle. 2000-12-29. http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/column?oid=oid%3A79961. 
9. ^ Cassidy, Frederic Gomes; Hall, Joan Houston (1985). Dictionary of American Regional English: Introduction and A-C (6th ed.). Harvard University Press. p. 55. ISBN 0674205111. http://books.google.com/books?id=vAr2T4Bh7nkC&pg=PA55&dq=devil+strip. Retrieved 2009-03-20. 
10. ^ ^{a b} "Who is responsible for the strip of land between sidewalk and curb? - HOA Forum - HOATalk.com". http://www.hoatalk.com/Forum/tabid/55/view/topic/postid/50748/Default.aspx. Retrieved October 29, 2011. 
11. ^ Random House Unabridged Dictionary. Random House. 1997. http://dictionary.infoplease.com/neutral-ground. 
12. ^ "Xeric Parkway Strip". 2010-07-07. http://www.fcgov.com/horticulture/infernogarden.php. 
13. ^ "Codes & Manuals". http://www.transect.org/codes.html. Retrieved 2011-06-19. 
14. ^ "Urban Forestry - Adopt-a-Tree Program". City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. http://ci.ftlaud.fl.us/life/urban_forestry/treeadopt.htm. Retrieved October 29, 2011. 
15. ^ Webster's New World College Dictionary (4th ed.). John Wiley & Sons. 2004. 
16. ^ "Verge". http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/verge. Retrieved 2010-07-07. 
17. ^ "Sustainable Stormwater Management". http://www.portlandonline.com/BES/index.cfm?c=34598. Retrieved 2010-04-28. 

External links

• Parkway with xeric garden photographs
• Devil Strips – term's use and lore.