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That’s one big tree pit and tree grate. I’d like to see that… I’m only familiar with the standard city-sidewalk tree grates… 
Acer saccharum might be a poor choice for that application since it is very sensitive to root compaction and disturbances. It also has a laterally branching root structure that stays close to the surface (probably not…[Read more]

Hi Rob,
I have no experience with this type of system…however I too would be concerned with those details.  From the plants perspective this type of system may catalyze some of the extreme weather conditions that induce winter injury.  I would suspect sunscald and early/late frost damage will do a number on these trees eventually.
Northern t…[Read more]

Still, Gleditsias can be so much tougher than sugar maples, and they leaf out late anyway so they may be better suited to this treatment.
Since it is not my project and was not the issue I was asked to evaluate all I felt I could do was draw the client’s attention to my concerns while acknowledging my lack of experience with such a situation. I…[Read more]

I’m not sure what the final installation section was (I’ll see if I can find out), but they appear to be doing well enough. For us, we have other street tree issues (as with many locations)… so the discussion is more along the lines of “should we really be putting trees here?”. I think emerging consensus will probably be that rather than…[Read more]

I wonder if you could get in touch with arborists or whoever is in charge of the street trees for the City of Minneapolis? There are heated sidewalks downtown and street trees – Gleditsia mostly if I remember correctly – they were in tree grates as well.
I would bet that the trees had no insulation from the sidewalk heat….they were mature a…[Read more]

Peter,
that is exactly my concern: full dormancy and also the tree experiencing a “false thaw” during any milder winter weather.
Location is Minnesota.
Your air gap makes perfect sense to me
 
How have your Alaskan trees done?

Rob:
 
How far North? We have various somewhat similar installations in Alaska. One of my concerns was the ability of the tree to go fully dormant. (i.e. with heated sidewalk above, even with insulation, will the soil freeze?) For one project I was involved with, the potential solution was to try to get an air-gap between the soil and slab system…[Read more]

I didn’t see the guy on Oprah you mentioned earlier. Who was he? What was he saying?

As a lifelong resident in metro Detroit, I appreciate your insightful reply. Detroit is not glitz and glamour but made up of hard working people.

Hi Dennis,
 
Since I am not the originator nor really “on the team” I can’t post their detail.
Imagine a 14′ diameter tree pit with cantilevered sidewalk over it to an 8′ diameter tree grate.
CU-structural soil below sidewalk within tree pit
Insulation material and sidewalk with embedded heating cables above.
 
I hope that is clarifying

UPDATE: I had reason to believe my test was graded unfairly, so i paid the extra $276 for the ‘score verification process.’ Lo and behold, it turns out I was right. My test was graded unfairly, and they just sent me a notice saying my score had been reversed and i actually passed.
 
Lesson learned: ALWAYS take the redline review. You never know…[Read more]

I am having a hard time visualizing this, can you provide a detail?

Why not jion an engineers union? The engineers at Boeing all belong to one.

Umm. As a municipal employee and long time taxpayer in VA I can tell you there is not actually a budget surplus in VA. It is smoke and mirrors and is dependant on stimlus funding for transportation. The current Republican governer seems to have forgotten that.
 
Virginia is a right to work state and does have very low union participation. It is al…[Read more]

One more report:
This one states that Virginia has a ban on collective bargaining agreements.  I am pretty sure that public unions are banned in Virginia.  And there is a budget surplus. Contrast that with Wisconsin.
 
Thats a strong indicator that public and private unions do not need each other.
 
http://www.cato.org/pubs/tbb/tbb_61.pdf
 

I am neither pro or anti union.  To take Andrews point a bit further–whether we need one or not, I just don’t think it would work in this profession.  3 reasons:
1.  Our profession is intrensically rewarding.  There will always be more people wanting to do it than there are jobs.  In good times this is not as apparant as it is now, but it has al…[Read more]

That may have been the case but the proctor said it was in her instructions that were given to her by CLARB.  She said she had given this exam before and that this was new to her as well.  I fortunately use a digital kitchen timer when I take the test and was allowed to use that.  Others just had go off of the 2 extremely small clocks that they pu…[Read more]

I’m going to respectfully disagree with you as well.  Here is a great article on the contrast of government unions vs private sector unions.
http://www.mackinac.org/2309
 
And you need to give me more data than “most economists agree”. Thats not a strong enough point for me.
 
You cannot take a good argument and discredit it (spoken like a re…[Read more]