The Savannah Tree Foundation (STF) is opposed to the widening of the portion of Victory Drive from the Truman Parkway east to the Intra-Coastal Waterway. STF has requested in writing to the city and county that this project be removed from the 2003-2008 list of SPLOST projects.

Our concerns are as follows:

Victory Drive represents the model roadway long advocated by STF as the design standard to which the community should aspire: the four-lane, dedicated median design which accommodates canopy trees both in the center median and on the sides of the roadway. Other examples of this model are found on Oglethorpe Avenue, Abercorn Street, 37th Street, Columbus Avenue, and White Bluff Road.

The canopied effect exemplified by Victory Drive makes this roadway a defining element of the community's character. Furthermore, the median palms represent a living memorial to those whose lives were given in service to this country in World War I. Removal of trees or degradation of the median for widening will compromise the characteristics that make it commendable.

The loss of canopy trees on this segment of the road will be the precedent for removal of trees on other segments of the road in the future.

Removal of canopy trees from roadways removes also the valuable functions performed by trees in locations where the benefits are most needed: erosion and sedimentation control, stormwater abatement through canopy intercept, reduction of glare for drivers provided by shade, and buffers between noisy traffic and the homes and businesses that front the street.