The Savannah Tree Foundation (STF) requests the removal of the proposed widening of the portion of Victory Drive between Truman Parkway east and the Intra-Coastal Waterway, from the CUTS Long Range Transportation Plan.

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.

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 eliminates the valuable functions performed by trees such as: erosion and sedimentation control, stormwater abatement through canopy intercept, reduction of heat island effect and glare, and buffering of noise from the surrounding area.