WASHINGTON, Sept. 3, 2025 — Scenic America and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) have long collaborated to promote roadside safety and enhance the beauty of America’s roads. As stated in its introduction, AASHTO’s podcast, The Stream, “explores environmental topics important to people involved in transportation and infrastructure programs.”

The Stream welcomed Tziporah Feldman, Scenic America’s policy and research director, as its guest on the Sept. 3 episode. Reflecting on her childhood, Feldman recalled time spent outdoors exploring nature — experiences that foreshadowed her educational and career path. “Ever since I was a kid, I was told — and I believed it — that I was going to help the environment,” she said.

Her first professional experience involved working at the intersection of transportation and the environment, researching seed germination and seedling survival of invasive Callery pear trees in Cincinnati.

During the interview, Feldman also discussed Scenic America’s efforts at the forefront of outdoor advertising control, describing the organization’s work to enforce regulations that enhance the scenic beauty and safety of the nation’s roadways. She explained that billboard regulation is an important, often overlooked environmental issue — one that also addresses the objectionable practice of clear-cutting trees solely to improve billboard visibility.

“Tree cutting for billboard visibility is one of our main focuses right now,” she said. She added that “every tree counts” not only for environmental effects such as mitigating heat islands but also for engineering safety issues such as roadway stability.

The interview also covered an emerging priority among Scenic America’s and AASHTO’s efforts: using road rights-of-way as corridors for undergrounding high-voltage transmission wires. These lines are rapidly proliferating across the country to increase data center and AI capacity. “Previously, we weren’t a big name in the utility sphere at all — and now we’re traveling across the country,” Feldman said, referencing her many trips to speak with regulators and utility operators about undergrounding lines as an alternative to visually intrusive overhead wires.

Overall, the podcast highlighted a growing national trend toward integrating beauty, safety, and resilience into infrastructure decisions. The conversation also underscored how DOTs and nonprofit partners can collaborate to address shared challenges, from vegetation management policies to the future of transmission siting in transportation corridors.

Feldman was pleased with the discussion. “If you care about how America grows — and what we stand to lose along the way — this episode is worth a listen,” she said.

Listen to the full episode here: AASHTO’s The Stream.