Cutting Trees over Roads/Streets

[svk]

If you have to drop a tree over a secondary road/street are there any laws regarding this? Obviously would have flag men/safety precautions in place to make sure nobody inadvertently drives underneath the falling tree.

 

[cumminstinkerer]

@svk I would call the county secondary roads department first, I have a standing agreement with the blade operator and engineer in my zone....but would be better to check first.

 

[svk]

@svk I would call the county secondary roads department first, I have a standing agreement with the blade operator and engineer in my zone....but would be better to check first.

Solid advice!

A friend has a couple of dead trees hanging over the road. They are definitely going to fall ON the road if left to nature.

 

[husqvarna257]

I just did this last weekend. All I did was to have My truck and tractor above where I was dropping and a car below with people on both sides. This is a slow road with minimal traffic. But as cummingstinker said I might call first or ask if you could get a police car there

 

[user 122190]

In my neck of the woods we are always dropping trees onto roads. We try and get it such that people can get thru, but rare it is that anybody comes along. Once a Forest Service truck came upon us. He/she just turned around and left, before we could tell them to give us a few minutes and we'd clear the way.

 

[Ted Jenkins]

Yes there are many laws concerning blocking or any obstruction to a road way which could lead to jail time. I have dropped trees on secondary roads when there in minimal traffic and worked fast about it. I took as many precautions as possible. I had a spotter road blocked. In California it is difficult to get a permit, but very necessary for some situations. It is a pure judgement call and a very large liability issue. If anything goes wrong of course you will kiss your a** goodbye. Thanks

 

[Ted Jenkins]

Yes there are many laws concerning blocking or any obstruction to a road way which could lead to jail time. I have dropped trees on secondary roads when there in minimal traffic and worked fast about it. I took as many precautions as possible. I had a spotter road blocked. In California it is difficult to get a permit, but very necessary for some situations. It is a pure judgement call and a very large liability issue. If anything goes wrong of course you will kiss your a** goodbye. Thanks

 

[rancher2]

Around here I try to do that type of tree work Sunday morning when not many people are around. Have a couple people watch traffic and I have the skid loader and grapple ready to get the road open again quickly. I have try in the past to deal with the county to get there help or ok to it and they just put me off.

 

[Jere39]

At least in this area, I'd estimate 99% of secondary roads also have utility line right of ways, and utility lines running along them. Kind of hard to drop a tree across a road while avoiding electric, cable, or phone lines. That said, storms of one kind or another drop trees across roads almost every week. FWIW, even dropping trees along a road have risks, and deserve caution including spotters who stop traffic for the actual drop and plenty help to clear the roadway of any debris.

OTOH, during the winter, and especially during snow, ice, or wind, it's always useful to have a saw and a strap in the truck to clear roads that mother nature have dropped trees on.

 

[alleyyooper]

You can plan for weeks watching traffice patterens and find early sunday morning just after sun up you have 3 hours of no traffic on the road. You get every thing set to go saturday evening so you can jumpon it in the morning.

Morning comes you get to the treee to be dropped and the road is like there is a parade of cars and trucks going by. You know smit happens all the time, best of planing has to include asking the township if they are going to close a road for a stupid bike race.

Happened to my brother in law, I was on hand to help clear and cut.

Course today that isn't likely after a costly law suit from doing so. Seems people pay property taxes for roads, gas taxed for roads and the plates that hang on the back of cars and trucks also goes to roads. When people are paying for roads they are not hot on the idea of not being able to use them for travel, and people who don't pay any thing at all use them for sport.


Al

 

[unclemoustache]

My little town has something about it, but I've never notified them. I've dropped a few trees partially on the streets, and city workers have even driven by while I had cones and groundsmen out, and they never say anything. As long as there isn't a problem, they are pretty cool about things here.

 

[Bobby Kirbos]

I've dropped a couple of trees over the road. They were in residential areas, so the roads were low volume. I think the key is to minimize the amount of time that the road is blocked. Drop the tree in small pieces so it's quickly removed from the road. Cut it up only as small as necessary to move the pieces to the side. Once out of the road, break it down into firewood sized pieces. Have flaggers and cones to control traffic when pieces are going to fall. As long as you look like you're doing everything possible to minimize traffic disruption, you'll more than likely be ok.

In some places, sometimes it's easier to ask for forgiveness than it is to ask for permission.

 

[Canyon Angler]

In some places, sometimes it's easier to ask for forgiveness than it is to ask for permission.

+1