July 4, 2008
by Christine Yeres
The orange plastic ribbon that identifies the towering ancient sycamore at the corner of Quaker Road (Route 120) and Douglas Road as take-down material is no mistake.
Our readers wrote us, hoping it was. They feared the enormous sycamore was marked for removal as part of the plan to make the intersection work better for long school buses. These concerned readers had also heard that the enormous rock on the southeast corner of the same intersection will be taken out as part of the bridge replacement project slated to begin this summer.
The acute angle of the right hand turn off the bridge headed north prohibits the long-bodied yellow buses from turning right when returning to their bus depot on Hunts Lane. Instead, the buses come straight off the bridge, motor all the way up to Roaring Brook School, use the school’s driveway to make a U turn, and return to the intersection to turn left on to Hunts Place. If the rock were removed, the buses could manage the right turn off the bridge from downtown.
“Moving that rock,” said town administrator Jerry Faiella, “is our chance to correct an impossible intersection, reduce bus traffic and save fuel. The tree has other problems.”
Workers discover fatal flaw
Without the giant sycamore, that handsome anchor sitting at the very end of the new raised walkway alongside the Duck Pond, a wooden utility pole holding up two courses of heavy black wires will have that place of pride on the lush green peninsula. The puny orange plastic ribbon doesn’t seem enough of a marker. Is there another kind of ribbon that could express regret that it has to be taken down?
“In fact, someone tried to save it, we think, by removing the ribbon,” said a sympathetic David Rambo, New Castle’s assistant commissioner of public works. He recognizes the tree as irreplaceable. But when the town was constructing the sidewalk, workers spotted a cavern at the base of the tree on the Quaker Road side. “We had an Almstead arborist come, and another from Cornell’s Cooperative Extension. We ran a bore test, too, and the verdict was that although it looks healthy, it’s hollow enough on the inside that it rated 13 on a scale of 14, dangerous to surrounding ‘targets’ such as people, cars, wires and houses.”
The sycamore, with its stately no-nonsense single, solid-brown trunk three feet in diameter, rises uninterrupted – no graceful curves or branching arms - slightly tapering, for 50 feet, easily clearing pesky Con Ed wires. Only then does the canopy begin; its branches and leaves the top two fifths of its height. The canopy is relatively see-through, and what you see are the mottled brown-and-white, ghostly upper branches that make the sycamore so striking even bare in winter. The tree may be 200 years old or more. Rambo says he will take care to count its rings when it is cut.
More trees will follow, as bridge work begins
Several other large sycamores, as well as some mature maple trees and evergreens that line the bridge on either side, will be taken down because of bridge reconstruction requirements, totaling 40 trees in all. The landscape we’re left with might be closer to the authentic look of New Castle 200 years ago, but after such a long acquaintance with the greenery that has grown up, it will be a sad change, maybe even a shock. Click Photo Gallery to see trees along bridge that are marked for take down.
Above, rock of ages will be moved so buses can make the turn;
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below, trees along Route 120 bridge that are marked for removal
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