If you're driving through big cities (Phoenix, Houston, etc) there's no reason to get off on streets with overhanging trees. Stay on the major routes like truckers do. Interstates don't have trees or curves or narrow streets.
Personally, we avoid those kinds of cities. We'd rather take a more scenic two-land state highway. Yes, it's slower but we've got plenty of time. We're rarely on interstates unless we really need to be.
One exception is the greater Phoenix area because our daughter lives there. We have never seen the major highways in Phoenix with trees. We do the I-10, I-17, 101 and 202. We stay on the outskirts at the Maricopa County parks and still don't encounter trees.