The City is reconstructing Somerset  west of Booth. As part of the reconstruction, there will (eventually) be new, wider sidewalks; protected parking bays; decorative ped lighting; and lots of new trees.

Existing trees are being protected, somewhat. First, inconvenient lower branches were pruned away. Then the trunks were wrapped in boards to protect them from impact damage. Alas, the roots are not so protected, and numerous trenches have been dug through the root system.

But regardless of the care, some trees just won’t make it. Four existing trees have been marked for removal. The largest one is shown here (squint and you can make out the red X’s on the boards, apparently the 2×4 wrapping is also going to be cut):

While the City can locate gas lines and water services quite close to or under trees, the “sewer lateral” is a bigger problem, so the trees are gonna go.

The City promises to squeeze in some extra trees on this strip of street to make up for the loss of the larger trees. If properly planted in structural soil, protected by curbs or tree guards, then they have a hope of survival. Eventually, the new street trees will look great and we will forget about the loss of this mature one.

Less obvious is why this tree has to be marked for removal; it looks to me like it could be propped up again and might thrive.