Megan Wright is not a construction worker but she certainly is having a role in how new Route 403 will look once it is finished.

Wright is a senior at URI studying landscape architecture and for the last two summers she has been working for the state Department of Transportation on projects such as Route 403 that will connect Route 4 with the Quonset Business Park.

“Every day is different,” says the 20-year-old student. “Sometimes I’m in the office all day, sometimes I’m out in the field.”

Wright shares an office with the DOT’s landscape architect and as such she is involved with reviewing plans for landscaping along new state roadways and changes proposed for old ones.

While Route 403 is the biggest project she is involved with this summer, she has also worked on the Northwest Bike path in the Olneyville section and Route 5 in Warwick.

In addition there are small projects that she sometimes has to review such as when a business wants to change plantings on their frontage or homeowners want to add or change buffer plantings between their property and a roadway.

In the Route 403 project, the DOT hired a consulting firm to design the landscaping along the roadsides but then it is up to Wright and her boss to review those plans and even pick plants at nurseries.

All sorts of factors come into play such as:

• Choosing the right plants (salt tolerance is a big issue).
• Maintenance (some plantings require more care than others).
• Placement (if the landscape has to be mowed, consideration has to be given to accommodate machines and plants cannot be used that could affect motorists’ sight lines).
• Aesthetics (it’s pleasing to have ornamental plants that bloom at different times of the year).

Wright, who lives in West Greenwich, says that an emphasis is made to incorporate native plants into highway landscapes. For one thing, native plantings have a better survival rate.

The DOT experience has been valuable for her career path, she says. “It’s good to learn all the standards and regulations,” she explains.

But that does not mean she wants to take a job with the DOT after graduation. Rather, she says she wants to get into a more creative role like planning parks or plazas and to do so will probably require a graduate degree.