November marks the beginning of canopy clearing season for WVDOH crews

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November marks the beginning of canopy clearing season for the West Virginia Department of Transportation (WVDOT).

Canopy clearing is the act of cutting branches and brush that overhang the Mountain State's roadways, and it's a vital part of WVDOT's data-driven approach to long term highway maintenance and management. Eliminating shady areas along roads helps ice thaw more quickly in winter, and rainfall dry more quickly from the road surface, thus 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, P.E., 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 are only allowed to clear canopy between November 15 and March 31. The restriction is in place to protect endangered bat populations, which don't typically use trees during those months.

In the past, the West Virginia Division of Highways (WVDOH) was restricted to cutting a total of 140 acres of canopy a year, or 14 acres for each of the state's 10 highway districts. In 2022, at the urging of Secretary of Transportation Jimmy Wriston, P.E., that restriction was lifted, allowing districts to clear as much canopy as possible, provided they stay between the November - 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 has been raised to 600.

"The canopy acts like a tent, literally trapping moisture on the roadway," Pack said.

Moisture left on pavement degrades asphalt fast, so maintenance crews cut away limbs and branches to allow sunlight to get to the roadways below.

Five hundred or 600 acres of canopy may not sound like a lot when spread over 55 counties, but the work is done along the sides of the road, not the middle of the forest. Five hundred acres equals enough miles of 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 have a reach of 40 feet, but maintenance crews have pole saws that are up to 175 feet long for reaching the highest branches.

Like cutting grass in the summer, milling and filling potholes or clearing ice and snow, canopy clearing is part of the WVDOH core maintenance program. Combined, core maintenance procedures prolong the life of pavement and keep roads safer.

This time of year is also snow removal and ice control season for WVDOH. The crews who clear snow and ice are the same crews who cut tree canopy and other types of road maintenance. WVDOH reminds drivers to slow down in work zones of all types, and allow plenty of room for snow plows.