Pine trees and palmettos would have been more natural, less expensive and cheaper to maintain. 90 medians was based on the designs of a professional landscape architect and the conditions and constraints of those highway medians. The design was approved by the city and the Lake City-Columbia County Chamber of Commerce before installation. The city provided the irrigation and maintenance on the medians as well. After all, the sabal palm, or cabbage palm as it is more commonly called, is the official state tree.
Medians are hard on plants and trees, especially in the establishment period.
The heat generated from the pavement and the narrow confines of the median area make palm trees a good choice. They are reasonably cheap to purchase, especially the size that was placed in the U.S. 90 medians, and their life expectancy is longer than most other trees. Pine trees need a substantial area to establish roots and can't be purchased and transplanted at the height of the palm trees that were planted in the medians. Palmettos would not be as good a choice since their growing habits would not allow this to occur. However, it has been brought to our attention that drivers unfamiliar with the merging conditions at the off-ramp onto U.S. 90 are stopping instead of proceeding in the outside lane.