Question about 3 yr. Old emerald greens

At this point, I don't think there's anything you can do. Roots from trees grow outward from the tree and they typically stay within the upper 1.5' of soil. Assuming the driveway widening chops off part of the primary roots of your trees, I imagine they could still survive because nutrient uptake could still occur through other roots, but it might stunt their growth or cause a lot of stress. I'd also be concerned about whether the trees are solidly anchored in the soil as well.

Yeah it’s very frustrating……I’m thinking a few of these arbs are doomed. All I can do is hope they don’t kill all of them. Sometimes life not fair. Got to focus on your blessings and not the negative

I’m going to be optimistic and say with proper care, they will do fine. A foot or two radius is much larger than the b&b root ball would be for a 6’-7’ arb. and they’re only cutting roots on one side. I’d treat them as just transplanted, new establishment phase. Check your soil water at least a couple times a week. Stake them if you can. New roots will grow under the driveway. I used to live in a city and had a large tree, maybe 30‘ or 40’ tall in the sidewalk in front of my house. The sidewalk cut was maybe 5 or 10 sq. ft. total. with no open ground at all except for the cut. Tree grew fine, roots under the sidewalk, street, etc.

Check locals codes and building inspector. A lot of places require a 5 foot setback.

We have that setback of 5’ but all you have to do is put in an application and do a little paperwork and the township just rubber stamps it. Another neighbor did the same thing last year and got a 2 nd driveway on his property. It’s really a joke…….his hardship was he had nowhere to park his RV.

Get an exemption and put a plant bed in on the property line. On it plant poison ivy, black berries and smilax vines