Lazaro Aleman
ECB Publishing, Inc.
The section of US 90 between Monticello and the Leon County line that is landscaped with crepe myrtles and other ornamental trees and shrubs is about to get an improved look.
Nearly four months after Commissioner Betsy Barfield mentioned the project to her colleagues at a commission meeting, the crepe myrtle tree trimming work is about to get underway.
On Thursday evening, Feb. 20, the Jefferson County Commission approved the project en masse as part of the consent agenda.
A brief attachment to the agenda item described the tree trimming project as extending about 15 miles – from the west side of Monticello to the Leon County line – with the exception of a stretch of highway between Main Avenue and Misty Lakes Road.
The trimming will consist of a vertical cut of approximately 20 to 25 feet high along the right-of-way or wood line, along with a canopied-styled cut over the existing crepe myrtles to give them “a boxed look.”
The work will also entail removing the lower overhangs from the crown of the existing crepe myrtles where their heights may reach 30 feet.
Per the instructions of the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), the cut tree debris will either be chipped or ground in place and limbs will be removed from the crepe myrtle crowns to relieve undue stress to the trees' growth.
The goal, according to the FDOT, is to give the highway corridor a cleaner, open look and provide the crepe myrtles with room to expand.
For motorists traveling on US 90, however, the project will mean short delays, as the trimming will require occasional lane closures.
Variously called Mahan Drive, Old Spanish Trail or simply US 90, the 26-mile stretch of scenic highway between Monticello's west side and Tallahassee's east side owes its existence to the late Fred Mahan, a local horticulturist and owner of the Monticello Nursery Company, once ranked as the second largest pecan and ornamental shrubbery nursery in the Southeast in the late 1920s.
In 1935, Mahan donated between 35,000 and 40,000 pyracanthas, arbor vitae, ligustrum, palms, and crepe myrtles to the state for the beautification of the highway. The contribution resulted in the 26-mile stretch of US 90 for years being celebrated as one of the most beautiful in the state. It also resulted in the Florida Legislature designating the stretch of highway as Mahan Drive in 1953, seven years before Mahan's death.
A monument to Mahan stands on the easternmost edge of the Sgt. Ernest 'Boots' Thomas Jr. Veterans Memorial Park, just off West Washington Street. The monument stands on land that once was part of Mahan’s extensive Monticello Nursery Company.
In 1952, Coronet Magazine described Mahan as a “nurseryman-philanthropist (whose) unique hobby had transformed many a drab, unlovely spot in Florida into breathtaking beauty.”
The article called Mahan, “A strange philanthropist who bestows beauty instead of dollars,” and who had “devoted nearly a third of his 65 years to spreading scenic bounty across the state he loves.”
At that time, it was estimated that Mahan had donated nearly 400,000 trees and shrubs to schools, churches, cemeteries, hospitals, parks, squares and public thoroughfares across the state.