cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/11743093
cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/11742954
The people at nolawns would like to have a word
Well, you do need a flat surface below the tram. A lawn will dampen more sound and re-emit less heat than concrete or asphalt.
Eh. Not sure native shrubbery would be the best choice in this particular situation.
It will probably be 80% dandelions and clover in a few years though.
I mean, as long as the trams run, nothing will get tall
Yeah clover or some kind of camomile would basically be ideal for beneath a tram
My wife never wants to go to Wallonia ever again because I showed her liège.
That was a few months ago.
Was gonna show her Charleroi next 🤷🏻♂️
I live in Charleroi and agree with the sentiment :D it’s not the same vibe as Liege though, might be even worse…
I like watching YouTube videos explaining the Charleroi metro.
I live in Belgium and don’t think I’ve ever been in Liège or Charleroi
@FenrirIII oooh… i love this and have thought of this in the past… I just assumed it was unreasonable…
I always figured there was some structural reason for not doing it. I’d love to see a green swath cutting through where I live.
I wonder if you have to mow or if the trams keep it trimmed.
Mount a blade underneath the tram.
modern day guillotine
Up voting because of the Final Destination scene you embedded in my head.
Can’t wait for all the animals to die on the tracks
What about the cars prior that are objectively worse in more ways than one. That probably had a much higher kill rate on both people AND animals.
I didn’t say there was a problem with the train lol just don’t put grass on the tracks
Don’t feed the embarrassingly low energy troll, folks. Carry on.
Yes, being concerned about putting creature habitat directly where trains run is trolling.
it’s about not being stupid. You aren’t gaining anything useful putting grass between the rails of a metro besides potential problems.
Someone said it’s been done successfully, which is surprising if true, but it’s still not really doing anything.
What creatures habitat is flat mown grass? Natural or otherwise.
Things that burrow like rabbits and mice as well as a ton of food for birds like bugs meaning birds will be likely to be there way more than pavement or gravel
Low energy troll.
Tracks like these have been successfully used in a lot of cities already. It’s objectively better imo
Seems dubious, but I’m curious if animals genuinely have a comparable hit rate on regular tracks vs grass filled rails.
Where’s the link to the article? Downvoted
I’ll be the one to say it: that’s just stupid.
Lifeless monoculture lawns are as big a waste of resources as car centric infrastructure. Doubly so when it’s in a place where humans can’t even walk on it. Triply so when it’s in a spot where it will gum up and corrode the rails it’s trying to hide.
I can already hear the thumps from a healthy culture of critters getting splatted by the train running through wild shrubs over the rails.
Seriously, rock ballast has a maintenance cost too. Concrete has higher construction cost but is cheaper to maintain, but creates the heat island effect. Grass can still help with drainage if engineered well, removes the heat island effect, and is not too much more to maintain, since trams are a lower speed and weight class putting less of a load on the rails. Grass is even better than concrete slab for noise dampening. So grass isn’t entirely purposeless and make for a pleasant scenery for people to be near.
You do realize this exact system has been utilized everywhere in the world for decades without issue? The alternative is completely sealed pavement so what exactly do you propose to improve this? You wanna have the car lanes back?
Saying sealed pavement is the only alternative is a false dichotomy. Off the top of my head, gravel ballast has been used for centuries.
A quick search shows 30x maintenence costs for minimal drainage benefits.
Civil engineering isn’t one size fits all and I’m sure there are some climates + layouts where this makes sense. But I’d prefer putting that green space somewhere where people can use it and minimize the cost, focus and footprint of transportation infrastructure as much as possible.
is a false dichotomy
The two options are green or gray and depressing. The cost of maintaining it wont even show up on the chart compared to the operating cost of the tram network so that shouldnt be an issue.
The options are how you spend your money. Improving tree density can have more benefits for the same budget spend. If that’s the case, keep my tram gray and let me hear more birds.
Better than pavement. Of course some native grasses would be better, but this is still an improvement.
This type of grass is native to most of Europe, to be fair. But monoculture is still not great.
But how exactly is it better? Nicer to look at maybe, but there are other materials that can provide drainage and temperature control with better durability and less maintenance.
Such as?
