Improving green structure Steenwegen Kerkrade
The total redesign of the Steenwegen in Kerkrade started in 2019. This redesign will be carried out in steps. The first two steps, from the Spekhofstraat traffic circle to the Akerstraat traffic circle, are now nearing completion. Step 3, from the Akerstraat traffic circle to the Strijthagerweg traffic circle, is currently in progress.
Last week a number of trees were uprooted at this location. The reason for uprooting these trees is their future prospects. In fact, many of these trees should be cut down in the coming years to prevent dangerous situations. There are a number of reasons for this. First, the uprooted trees are beech trees, which suffer greatly from the changing climatic conditions of recent years. Rising temperatures and drought are causing the quality of these trees to decline rapidly. Second, the growing sites of these trees are not optimal. Trees need about the same amount of space below ground as above ground, and they do not currently have this space. Third, beeches are very sensitive to sunlight; this can cause fire damage on the trunk. Finally, in recent years, various parasitic fungi have taken an increasing hold on trees. As a result, many older trees are dying or deteriorating rapidly in their health, making it dangerous to leave them standing.
At the beginning of the redesign, the quality and future prospects of each tree were critically examined. It was decided to uproot trees with declining health and a future expectation of less than ten years and replace them with new trees. Thus, the redesign of the Steenwegen will also restore the quality of the tree stock along the Steenwegen.
During each step of the redevelopment, a felling permit was applied for the felling of the trees with impaired health. Only after completion of the procedure was the felling of affected trees carried out.
In order to ensure that there will continue to be a beautiful avenue of trees on both sides of the Steenwegen in the future, improvements will be made to the trees' growing sites during the redesign. The trees that will be retained will be given extra space to grow under the ground and the new trees will be planted in good growing places so that they can develop optimally. These growing places will also be created incidentally under paving through the application of tree granules.
To avoid having to uproot large numbers of trees at once again in the future due to fungi targeting one particular type of tree, the new plans have opted for more species diversity. A new avenue will be planted with seven different types of trees. Here, species are chosen that are climate resistant, which will create a sustainable avenue. In this way the Steenwegen will continue to be characterized by the beautiful trees along the road.
