Texas crews are using futuristic tech to relocate a living 400-year-old landmark

These Texas crews are using futuristic tech to relocate a living 400-year-old landmark – a large tree that’s getting in the way of a big road.

For years, locals in Kyle, Texas, have slowed to gawk at ‘Jolene’, the massive live oak that leans precariously close to Old Stagecoach Road.

This tree, formally known as the Old Stagecoach Heritage Oak, is estimated to be a staggering 400 years old.

Instead of cutting it down, the city is doing something extraordinary: they’re going to move it using ultra-modern gear that looks more sci-fi than arboriculture.

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Using futuristic tech to relocate a living 400-year-old landmark

When you think of cutting-edge tech, you picture EV hypercars, flying taxis, or AI robots. But in Kyle, Texas, some futuristic innovation is being used for something totally different: relocating a 400-year-old oak tree.

Yes, you read that right – instead of chopping it down to make way for a road expansion, the city will literally move the ancient tree with equipment that looks like it came straight out of a sci-fi movie.

Nicknamed Jolene, the massive Old Stagecoach Heritage Oak has been around for centuries.

Generations have grown up under it, and locals see it as part of the town’s identity, so citizens were up in arms when road improvements were proposed, and begged for a better solution.

It looks like the city found another solution, in the form of tech called ArborLift.

Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, I’m begging of you, please don’t take my land

To pull off the move, the town of Kyle brought in Environmental Design, Inc. – specialists in moving massive, ancient trees.

The ArborLift system uses a steel platform that they slide under the oak’s root system, cradling the tree like a giant ambulance stretcher.

Under the steel platform, they put inflatable airbags that inflate together, so the tree rises slowly and evenly.

The oak, roots and all, will then be rolled from the airbags onto a trailer. This distributes pressure so that the soil and root ball aren’t destroyed.

The tree will be replanted in a new pocket park designed just for it, only a quarter of a mile away, so that future generations from Kyle, Texas, can appreciate Jolene and her beauty that’s beyond compare.

Maybe we found the muse behind Dolly Parton’s hit song?

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