Illinois Department of Transportation’s Seeding Standards and Best Management Practices

Bollinger, Wesley; Bhattarai, Rabin; Matthews, Jeffrey

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/128486 Copy

Description

Title

Illinois Department of Transportation’s Seeding Standards and Best Management Practices

Author(s)

• Bollinger, Wesley
• Bhattarai, Rabin
• Matthews, Jeffrey

Issue Date

2025-05

Keyword(s)

• Environmental Quality
• Invasive Plants
• Prairie
• Roadsides
• Seeding
• Soil Quality
• Vascular Plants

Date of Ingest

2025-05-21T08:25:14-05:00

Abstract

To provide evidence-based revisions to Section 250 of the Illinois Department of Transportation roadside specifications manual, we conducted a literature review, an experimental planting, and a survey of previously planted roadsides. We created newly designed native seed mixes and field tested these mixes in comparison with existing IDOT mixes. After one year of growth in lawn, roadside, and slope areas, we found overall positive effects on native species cover using the newly designed native mixes. We surveyed 34 native species plantings along roadsides in Indiana and Illinois and evaluated several variables to determine which factors led to long-term establishment, finding cover by seeded native species and native species overall increased with distance from road and decreased with increasing soil nitrate and phosphorous. We further found that number of native species and seeded native species increased with distance from road and greater seed mix diversity, whereas richness of non-native, non-seeded species was greater at shorter distances from the road. Across all sites, 84 of the 150 native species seeded at sites were never observed in our surveys, but 28 native species were observed at more than half of the sites in which they were seeded. Our results suggest native plantings can persist on roadsides for several years after planting, but that specific site-level factors increase the likelihood of long-term success.

Publisher

Illinois Center for Transportation/Illinois Department of Transportation

Has Part

ISSN: 0197-9191

Series/Report Name or Number

FHWA-ICT-25-004

Type of Resource

text

Genre of Resource

technical report

Language

eng

DOI

https://doi.org/10.36501/0197-9191/25-004

Sponsor(s)/Grant Number(s)

IDOT-R27-255

Copyright and License Information

No restrictions. This document is available through the National Technical Information Service, Springfield, VA 22161.

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