GALVESTON — The planned removal of 510 dead trees that line Broadway likely will be postponed until next week to give a delegation from the Texas Historical Commission time to review the work one more time, city officials said Thursday.
Officials had hoped crews could start working Saturday so the work could be finished early enough to keep related traffic detours from interfering with the community events planned for October, city spokeswoman Alicia Cahill said.
State officials will tour the island today as part of the long-term recovery committee’s interest in having the city’s entire urban core named a historic district.
Because many of the island’s live oaks, including those that line Broadway, were planted after the 1900 Storm, the Texas Historical Commission considers them part of the city’s historic character, Cahill said.
Work on Broadway cannot begin until the commission gives its final approval. The agency has jurisdiction over the road because it’s a state highway.
State officials have said they want new trees planted along Broadway in the same spots as their predecessors to maintain the 100-year-old patterns of the plantings. But forestry experts warn that planting new trees in holes surrounded by webs of existing roots could choke them off and kill them.
The city’s tree committee hopes to start planting trees along other roadways in November, but with all of the approvals and agreements needed for planting around Broadway, the historic boulevard could stay bare for another year, Cahill said.
