---
title: "Street Tree"
url: "https://commonwaysystem.org/patterns/elements/street-tree/"
id: "ELM-STT-28"
description: "A tree planted along a street, typically within the sidewalk zone or a landscaped buffer, providing shade, stormwater interception, visual buffering from traffic, and streetscape character."
updated: "2026-09-26"
---

# Street Tree

`ELM-STT-28`

Recommended Element

Street Tree

A tree planted along a street, typically within the sidewalk zone or a landscaped buffer, providing shade, stormwater interception, visual buffering from traffic, and streetscape character.

## Related Media

The items below come from outside the Commonway System, external videos, podcasts, and articles related to this page's topic, not part of the guidebook itself.

Aligned

### [This is the key to safer streets](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsSp8gxzfjo)

Streetcraft

A full traffic-calming toolkit walkthrough, plastic mini-roundabouts, curb extensions, chicanes, the speed bump/hump/cushion/table family, and a Cincinnati road-diet case study with dramatic before/after crash data.

## Why this pattern exists

Street trees do measurable work beyond aesthetics, they reduce pedestrian-level heat, intercept a portion of rainfall before it reaches the storm system, and provide a visual and physical buffer between pedestrians and moving traffic; this pattern exists to document species selection, spacing, and root-space considerations that determine whether a tree thrives or struggles in a street environment.

## Key considerations

-   Adequate below-grade root space and soil volume must be planned for at installation; insufficient space is the leading cause of poor street tree survival and growth[1]
-   Species selection should account for mature canopy size relative to available overhead and sidewalk clearance, utility conflicts, and local climate tolerance
-   Spacing should balance canopy coverage goals against sightline requirements at driveways, crossings, and intersections

## Related patterns

[Tree Pit/Tree Trench](https://commonwaysystem.org/patterns/elements/tree-pit-tree-trench.md) (ELM-TPT-29) (the below-grade element supporting this pattern); [Landscaped Buffer Strip](https://commonwaysystem.org/patterns/elements/landscaped-buffer-strip.md) (ELM-LBS-30) (a common zone this pattern is planted within)

## References

1.  Evidence-based [Lindsey, J.P. and Bassuk, N. (1991), "Specifying Soil Volumes to Meet the Water Needs of Mature Urban Street Trees and Trees in Containers," _Journal of Arboriculture_ 17(6). Peer-reviewed formula (approximately 2 cubic ft of soil per sq ft of mature canopy) underlying the claim that insufficient space is the leading cause of poor street tree survival.](https://auf.isa-arbor.com/content/17/6/141)