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Off topic: highway medians

IowaBowHunter1983

IowaBowHunter1983

Well-Known Member
Staff member
It drives me nuts watching millions of dollars wasted mowing highway medians. I dont know why but it makes me shake my head every time.

Has to be a better solution. Short prairie grass with short forbes. Never have to mow. Would look "nice ". I dont get it.
 
If you didn't mow them, the tall grass and/or weeds would make an outstanding snow fence to dump blowing snow on the road. Spend the money mowing medians and ditches or plowing snow...pay me now or pay me later.

NWBuck
 
Always wondered why they don't use white clover ever. Some places I think I have noticed sedge nut grass and that might seem to work ok as well.

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singlecoyote said:
It can't be tall enough that it obscures deer or other critters. And it sure shouldn't be seeded to forbs so as to attract deer.
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Yeah I agree... scratch the forbes. Short prairie grass or even just grass that is engineered not to get over 6". The mowing is stupid. And costly.
 
NWBuck said:
If you didn't mow them, the tall grass and/or weeds would make an outstanding snow fence to dump blowing snow on the road. Spend the money mowing medians and ditches or plowing snow...pay me now or pay me later.

NWBuck
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Just mow it once a year in the fall?
 
sep0667 said:
Just mow it once a year in the fall?
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Most grasses that have headed out, if mowed sometime late summer, will not grow back much before first frost. So yeah, one good mowing this time of year is usually sufficient.

We could talk about a lot of ways government money is wasted, but I don't think this would be anywhere near the top of the list.

NWBuck
 
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NWBuck said:
Most grasses that have headed out, if mowed sometime late summer, will not grow back much before first frost. So yeah, one good mowing this time of year is usually sufficient.

We could talk about a lot of ways government money is wasted, but I don't think this would be anywhere near the top of the list.

NWBuck
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You're absolutely right, but it still drives me crazy. We can genetically modify anything today. I see no reason they cant plant somthing that is "maintenance free".
 
IowaBowHunter1983 said:
.....I see no reason they cant plant somthing that is "maintenance free".
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Call me crazy but why not plant alfalfa and sell it back to local farmers at a bargain price? The DOT could sell tags for first and second season(cut).

First season resident-$100 per round bale, limit 5.
Second season resident-$70 per round bale limit 3.
First and second season non resident- $520 per round bale. No limit.:)
 
Mowing keeps the unwanted brush from growing up too. Look at certain spots that haven't been brush-hogged in 5 or 10 years.
 
It’s mowed more for safety than anything else. I don’t have a problem with them mowing it. Could be because I used to mow ditches for all the county roads including gravel. It does make a big visibility difference even if you mow a 5 ft strip along the edge. Let alone the added benefit of snow not being stopped and built up in the median.


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The government solution would be to pay a consultant millions of dollars to find a more economical method. Then the government would pick the dumbest option because they all the sudden wanted to, "save a couple dollars", then they would come up with a solution that doesn't even address the problem and require more maintenance and money in the long run. . Don't ask me how I know this.

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Being an agricultural state the weed seeds generated from not mowing medians/ROW would/could have an impact on agribusiness. At least that's what I was told about 60 years ago, you know, before the carcinogen also know as glyphosate was developed.

I do believe my thistle problem is a result of the DOT not mowing the entire right away and prevailing southwest winds in Iowa during the summer and early fall. One of my neighbors gets hay from his ROW. Yes, the state controls quite a swath of ground between my fence and the centerline of the highway that I get to pay taxes on.
 
Thanks to the DOT mowing ditches in August we now have wild parsnip spread all across Iowa. I understand the need to mow but wish they would mow earlier (or spray the parsnip/thistle) in June and avoid waiting to mow for the first time in August when the seeds are mature and the plants have dried down. All they accomplish mowing for the first time in August is distributing weed seed like wild parsnip and thistle 50 miles at a time.
 
iowaqdm said:
Thanks to the DOT mowing ditches in August we now have wild parsnip spread all across Iowa. I understand the need to mow but wish they would mow earlier (or spray the parsnip/thistle) in June and avoid waiting to mow for the first time in August when the seeds are mature and the plants have dried down. All they accomplish mowing for the first time in August is distributing weed seed like wild parsnip and thistle 50 miles at a time.
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Due to state legislation I’m pretty sure they aren’t allowed to mow until after July 4th due to wanting bird nesting habitat. Could have the date wrong but there is a date if they mow before that it’s usually for visibility issues. They do spray.


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