When the Crime Scene Is the Road: Forensic Geoscience Indicators Applied to Road Infrastructure and Urban Greening

Common to most cities with tree-lined roads, streets, and sidewalks is damage to paved surfaces caused by the growth of roots over time. Sub-surface root growth creates potential hazards for people driving motor vehicles and pedestrian traffic. In large urban centers like Rome (Italy), roads are vital infrastructure ensuring the mobility of citizens, commercial goods, and information. This infrastructure can become a crime scene when serious injuries or deaths result from the poor monitoring and management of urban trees. Sustainable management of road infrastructure and the associated urban greening is supported by a forensic geoscientific approach. In particular, the use of the GPR (Ground Penetrating Radar) technique allows (i) to control and detect anomalies in the root architecture beneath asphalt in a non-destructive way; and (ii) to plan actions to repair and avoid the possibility of further catastrophic scenarios and need for forensic investigations.