Roadside rights-of-way (ROWs) are important landscape features. They are managed to balance the need for safe and efficient transportation with a host of environmental issues. Tens of thousands of miles of such ROWs traverse New York. The New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) is responsible for 30,000 miles shoulder miles of ROWs, including 3,000 miles of guiderails. Over 100,000 acres of land are mowed on NYSDOT ROWs each year.

Roadside vegetation is managed for multiple objectives: (1) to provide motorists with adequate site distances; (2) to control visibility of signs and guiderails; (3) to prevent the presence of deadly fixed objects (usually trees that may impact cars that leave the roadway); (4) to maintain pavement by controlling drainage problems and prevent pavement breakage by plants; and (5) to control noxious vegetation such as poison ivy and giant hogweed that could hurt highway workers and travelers.

NYSDOT has committed to using an Integrated Vegetation Management (IVM) approach to meeting roadside ROW objectives and is currently looking to strengthen capacity in that regard.