The Beltway Denuded

The original title for this post was "The Rape of the Beltway," but that seemed too strong. Not by much, though.

One of the things I've always loved about my area is how green it is. I've spent a fair amount of time looking out the window while flying into major airports, and my home airport is one of the "greenest." Instead of houses or strip malls or cloverleafs (a punny nod to St. Patrick's Day week), I'd see thousands of trees.

Now there's a massive road construction project under way to widen the roads and build toll lanes. This project involves massive clear-cutting. I cry for the trees and the environment, and I keep feeling lost in the changed landscape. Supposedly this will benefit us all in the long run, but at what cost?