Thoughts on protection of trees

The other day, I and a relative were having a discussion, and I mentioned the rapid cutting of trees in Bangalore, which was totally unacceptable to me. However, when he voiced his opinion on it, I learnt that there were people who actually approve the cutting down of trees. The arguement he offered was, if the traffic was really high, and the trees are growing in the center of the road, blocking the traffic, then the only option was to cut down the culprit. The roads would have been smaller in earlier years, and so they would have planted trees, not keeping in mind the fact that the roads might need to be widened as the days progress, and when they are, the trees might prove as a block for the ever increasing flow of traffic. Though, practically this arguement makes absolute sense, but do you still think this is a valid solution? What if trees had brains and could think and walk and talk like humans, and they were growing vastly in population? Would they start killing humans because humans had completely occupied their land? Is that acceptable to us? Don't we realise that trees are the ones who provide the comfortable shade in days of sweltering heat, and who house a whole lot of beautiful flowers which are so pleasing to ones eyes, and fruits which act as our food? I agree we need them to provide our basic furnishings etc., but shouldnt there be a way of ensuring that we help the growth of trees in some way or the other? There was a mention about planting one tree for every tree cut... but does anyone know if this really happens? Do we really need to advance so much in technology that we neglect the very own nature which has provided us with so much so unselfishly?