Using cabbage palms along roads to produce both shade & safety

This brief (less than four minute) video explores possible landscaping solutions for a sidewalk adjacent to US 41, the Tamiami Trail at its intersection with Gulfstream Avenue in Sarasota, Florida. This is a busy and frequently congested signaled intersection that is being converted to a roundabout. At a recent meeting, nearby residents with pedestrian inclinations argued that proposed Royal Palms would be useless for creating shade. The preferred solution, they suggested, would be “canopy trees”, by which they meant dicots. I believe the term “canopy tree” is misleading and not helpful. All living trees have canopies. Use of the term suggests all other trees lack canopies, which would indicate they cannot produce effective shade. Anyone who has ever walked in a palm hammock knows otherwise.