Controversial herbicide spraying to begin on state roads

The state Department of Transportation will begin its annual summer roadside herbicide spraying program starting Friday.

Since the mid-1970s, the state has been spraying herbicides to control vegetation under guardrails, signs and roadside barriers.

Officials say the work is needed to improve the visibility of guardrails and to maintain sight lines on curves and intersections, to reduce fire hazards, maintain drainage and control invasive plants.

Among the roads that will be sprayed are Interstates 84, 91, 95, 384, 395 and 691 “and all other divided highways and secondary roads,” DOT said in a release.

Spraying on major roads will begin first in western Connecticut, followed by the central, southern and eastern areas of the state.

Spraying on secondary roads will start in eastern Connecticut, then move west. Spot spraying in areas with invasive plants and trees will run from Aug. 15 through November.

A bill that would have prohibited the DOT from spraying was approved by the Environment Committee in 2017, but didn’t win full passage in the Legislature. The DOT opposed the bill. At the bill’s hearing, Commissioner James Redeker said “removing this vegetation manually would require several cuttings throughout the growing season. This is a very labor-intensive task with a high potential for employee injury. Most vegetation, once cut, will produce multiple stems increasing the amount of vegetation under the guardrails and on barriers. One plant, poison ivy, is especially harmful to department maintainers that would be cutting it or repairing the guardrails.”

Redeker said the herbicides have no soil movement or leaching properties, ensuring that no off-target trees, plants or pollinators are exposed.

DOT said this year’s spraying program will have minimal impact on travel.

“This operation utilizes a moving (rolling) traffic pattern, and all products utilized by the department have EPA approval as well as DEEP approval.”

Supporting the ban was the Citizens Campaign for the Environment, which argued that prohibiting the use of toxic herbicides on state highways would protect Connecticut’s soil and water resources, protect public health and food security and the health of important pollinators.

The group said, “Glyphosate, the most common herbicide on today’s market, is known to permeate through soils and easily runs off into storm drains and catch basins.”

Sen. Ted Kennedy Jr, a longtime environmentalist, said “The Environment Committee has called for DOT to stop this practice and asks the agency to consider safer, and often times less-expensive options, such as mowing, planting pollinator-friendly flowers, and using nonpoisonous herbicide alternatives.”

The EPA said Glyphosate products “can be safely used by following label directions,” adding Glyphosate has low toxicity for humans.