Recent articles have focused on the "mohawks" of vegetation left in the median of some of the interstates. The issue deals with irritation on the part of two Anderson legislators who do not understand why state Sen. Arthur Ravenel of Charleston won't let the state Department of Transportation cut the roadsides the way it wants.

For decades, the Transportation Department has cut the vegetation on the roadsides the way it wants. That is why we have lost magnificent avenues of oaks that were hundreds of years old. We have lost most of the stately canopies that once covered our rural roads, and too many roadside trees to even bear contemplating. The Transportation Department has stripped South Carolina roadsides of their personality and natural beauty.

The Transportation Department does the roadside butchering in the name of safety. The truth is that the mowing and clearing exceed even the most stringent national safety standards. The engineering bible used by virtually all state DOTs is published by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. Its standards for interstates call for a 30-foot clear zone extending out from the edge of the travel lane. The roadside clearing called for in South Carolina's new law, the one Reps. Becky Martin and Ronnie Townsend want to repeal, calls for a 30-foot clear zone starting from the edge of the paved shoulder, which adds another 12 feet to 15 feet to the national standard.

South Carolina falls well within what is required to allow most motorists who veer off the road room to recover and get back on the road. Ironically, the Transportation Department removed vegetation from the center of some interstate medians only to discover that cars crossed the medians and ran head-on into oncoming traffic. Now -- at tremendous cost to taxpayers -- it is erecting cement walls and guard rails to prevent this.

There are two reasons many applaud Sen. Ravenel and the improved roadside vegetation-management law.

First, the Transportation Department can hardly afford to spend millions of our tax dollars on unnecessary roadside mowing and maintenance. If you go to its Web site you will see stunning admissions: The Transportation Department cannot resurface 25,000 miles of secondary roads; nearly one-third of the state's primary and interstate highways are in poor or mediocre condition; one out of every four bridges in the state is considered deficient. The department cannot maintain our roads, it says, because it does have enough money. Yet it continues to waste dollars clearing in front of billboards, logging trees to enhance views of billboards that tower over the trees (try to understand that), and argues even now to mow beyond what is reasonably required for safety.

The other reason to applaud Sen. Ravenel is because the look of our roadsides does matter. They are the view we look at on our way to work. They can inspire or depress. They are what visitors to our state see. They are what business leaders see when they scout our state for possible relocation.

For decades, we've shown them anywhere, USA, with a lot of litter. Instead of miles of moss-laden live oaks, they see pansies. Instead of red cedar and bald cypress, maple and tupelo, they see poppies and rock smiley faces that say absolutely nothing about our state, culture or heritage. We could be Kansas.

Sen. Ravenel has said it for years, and I repeat it here: We have some of the most beautiful native wildflowers and trees in the nation. Our roadsides are naturally beautiful, and will grow back to be naturally beautiful, for free, if the Transportation Department will follow the law, keep a reasonable clear zone and do nothing beyond that. It doesn't cost us a thing. The money the Transportation Department saves should be spent repairing roads and bridges.