[/floatl]Yomiuri: World's longest tree-lined street to become a promenade
The Tochigi prefectural government plans to protect a Japanese cedar-lined avenue, which dates back 400 years and stretching over 37 kilometers in Nikko, Tochigi Prefecture, from damage due to vehicular vibration and exhaust gases by turning part of it into a promenade. The cedar-lined street is a government-designated special historic site and the prefectural government wants to protect it by removing the existing pavement and closing it to vehicles. A bypass is to be constructed to provide an alternate route for vehicles. Although the envisaged plan may take many years to complete, a study on the route has already begun. The avenue lined with cedar trees was created on an approach leading to Nikko Toshogu shrine by Matsudaira Masatsuna, an aide to Tokugawa Ieyasu in the 17th century. The project, which began in 1625, took more than 20 years to complete. The cedar avenue, which forms part of the Nikko Kaido road on National Highway Route 119, is listed by Guinness World Records as the world's longest tree-lined avenue. In 1961, there were about 16,500 cedar trees, but in recent years, many trees have died. The number of trees was about 12,500 in 2007...To preserve the cedar trees, experiments are being conducted on raising the ground level by adding soil and burying hollow concrete blocks so as to allow the trees to extend their roots...more...
Concrete to the rescue again!
