thumb|A curb strip in suburban [[Greater Boston, Massachusetts. Outside of rural areas in New England, curb strips are narrow – the one pictured is from curb to sidewalk. They are usually not maintained by the municipality, but rather by the property owner, and are used primarily to provide space for utility poles.]]

A road verge is a strip of groundcover consisting of grass or garden plants, and sometimes also shrubs and trees, located between a roadway and a sidewalk. as a form of community work.

Benefits of having road verges include visual aesthetics, increased safety and comfort of sidewalk users, protection from spray from passing vehicles, and a space for benches, bus shelters, street lights, and other public amenities. Verges are also often part of sustainability for water conservation or the management of urban runoff and water pollution and can provide useful wildlife habitat. Snow that has been plowed off the street in colder climates is often stored in the area of the verge by default.

In the British Isles, road verges serve as important habitats for a range of plants, including rare wildflowers. In the UK, around 700 different species of wildflower can be found growing on verges, including 29 of the country's 52 species of orchid. Verges can also support a wide range of animals and plants that may have been displaced from their usual grassland habitats, as the soil is not extensively fertilised and relatively undisturbed by human activity. Animals that reside on verges range from small insects and amphibians, to larger reptiles, mammals and birds, which rely on verges as a corridor connecting areas of undamaged habitat. As a result, verges may be managed by local areas to encourage biodiversity and conserve the ecosystems that rely on them.

thumb|A sign on a road verge in [[Northumberland, England, indicating that the verge is being managed by the local council to maintain populations of wild plants]]

The main disadvantage of a road verge is that the right-of-way must be wider, increasing the cost of the road. In some localities, a wider verge offers opportunity for later road widening, should the traffic usage of a road demand this. For this reason, footpaths are usually sited a significant distance from the curb.

thumb|Pavements and planted strips in India ( Mumbai/Bombay)

Certain nutrient amounts in a verge's soil can be influenced by the amount of traffic on the road it sits beside; roads with heavier traffic tend to have more nitrate in the soil due to nitrogen compounds from air pollution leaching out of the atmosphere and into the ground.

Sustainable urban and landscape design

thumb|300px|Planted [[rain garden in the "tree lawn" zone, Raleigh, North Carolina.]]

In urban and suburban areas, urban runoff from private and civic properties can be guided by grading and bioswales for rainwater harvesting collection and bioretention within the "tree-lawn" (road verge) – parkway zone in rain gardens. This is done for reducing runoff of rain and domestic water: for their carrying waterborne pollution off-site into storm drains and sewer systems; and for the groundwater recharge of aquifers.

Rural roadsides

In some countries, the road verge can be a corridor of vegetation that remains after adjacent land has been cleared. Considerable effort in supporting conservation of the remnant vegetation is prevalent in Australia, where significant tracts of land are managed as part of the roadside conservation strategies by government agencies.

<gallery>

File:20190830Cichorium intybus1.jpg|Chicory (Cichorium intybus) blooming on a road verge in Bischmisheim, Saarbrücken, Germany

File:Ginkgo Riverside, Illinois.JPG|Ginkgo street trees in the "boulevard" area, in Riverside, Illinois

File:Treelawn1.JPG|A planted garden in the "tree lawn", in Raleigh, North Carolina

File:Oak Park Boulevard.jpg|A "parkway" with street trees in Oak Park, Illinois

File:Tree Lawn at Night.jpg|A tree lawn with street trees in Shaker Heights, Ohio

File:A Tree Lawn in Daytime.jpg|A tree lawn with street trees in Shaker Heights, Ohio

</gallery>

Terminology

The term verge has many synonyms and dialectal differences. Some dialects and idiolects lack a specific term for this area, instead using a circumlocution.

Terms used include:

<!-- please keep entries in alphabetical order -->

<!-- please keep entries in alphabetical order -->

  • Berm: Pennsylvania, northern Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, New Zealand
  • Besidewalk
  • Boulevard: Detroit, Michigan; North Dakota; Minnesota; Iowa; Illinois; Ohio; Wisconsin; United States Upper Midwest; Toronto, Ontario; Markham, Ontario; Kitchener, Ontario
  • Boulevard strip: U.S. Upper Midwest
  • Common: New England, generally describes a large strip of grass. Also refers to park-like common-use green spaces in small town centers.
  • Curb lawn: Kalamazoo, Michigan; Elyria, Ohio; Miami County, Ohio; Greenville, South Carolina
  • Curb strip: New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Florida, Ohio, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Oregon, Washington This term was once used more widely to refer to the space between tracks on a streetcar line, a space not wide enough to stand in as cars passed.
  • Drivestrip or Drive Strip
  • Easement: Southeast Michigan
  • Extension lawn: Ann Arbor, Michigan
  • Furniture zone, also landscape zone: a term used by urban planners, indicating its suitability for "street furniture" such as utility poles and fire hydrants, as well as trees or planters
  • Grassplot: East Coast of the United States, Pennsylvania
  • Hellscape: Tulsa
  • Island strip: Long Island, New York
  • Long acre – a traditional term for wide grassy road verges, used by grazing herds or flocks moving from place to place
  • Median: Washington, Oregon*
  • Mow strip: SF East Bay Area Northern California
  • Nature strip: Australia
  • Neutral ground: U.S. Gulf states
  • Outlawn: Midland, Michigan
  • Park strip: Ohio,
  • Parkway: Grand Rapids, Michigan; Greater Los Angeles; San Francisco Bay Area; West Coast of the United States; Casper, Wyoming; Ohio; Illinois; Missouri; Florida; Texas
  • Parkway strip: Austin, Texas; Fort Collins, Colorado
  • Planter zone: SmartCode/New Urbanist terminology
  • Planting strip: Berkeley, California, Seattle, Washington
  • Right-of-way: Wisconsin, Illinois
  • Road allowance: Ottawa, Canada
  • Road verge: Australia
  • Roadside: Australia
  • Shoulder
  • Sidewalk lawn: Georgia
  • Sidewalk plot: Virginia, Maryland, Indiana, Tennessee
  • Subway: Western New York
  • Swale: South Florida
  • Terrace: U.S. Great Lakes region, Missouri
  • Tree belt: Massachusetts
  • Tree lawn or treelawn: Ohio, Indiana, New York, and elsewhere
  • Verge: UK, Western Australia