It looks like the zelkova trees along the Old National Route are being cut down (ーー;)
This article is brought to you by “Nishinomiya Kitaguchi Dental and Oral Surgery, open year-round,” a dental clinic that supports Nishitsu.

When we went to take a look, this is what it looked like…
The location is around here↓
Here’s how the zelkova trees looked:

They had serial numbers marked on them,

with numbers from 3 to 14.

Some spots had already had even the roots removed.

There were various markings written on the sidewalk, so we thought it might have something to do with construction,
and contacted City Hall (^_^)/
“Excuse me, it looks like the zelkova trees along the Old National Route are being cut down. Is some kind of construction work planned?”
“They are carrying out work to widen the sidewalk, increasing its width from 3m to 4m. If the zelkova trees were left as they are, they would obstruct pedestrians, so they are being cut down.”
“What! Are all the zelkova trees going to disappear?”
“Construction has already finished on the east side from here, and we are planning to plant new trees. As for the timing, we will plant them so that the growth of the roadside trees lines up evenly.”
That’s what they told us.

This is what the section where the sidewalk work has been completed looks like. It’s super clean!

Spaces have also been made for the new trees to be planted.
The construction will apparently continue westward from here. Eventually, it will reach around the Meishin Expressway area.
This stretch of the Old National Route is part of a community united as the Koshien Keyaki Promenade, so we hope they keep going strong with the new tree-lined street!!




















