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Summary. Water is one of nature's resources. As urbanisation grows, new roadways and highways are constructed for the transport sector and development. Due to roadway infrastructure, the development of the quality of surface water bodies in close proximity to roads is deteriorating and has become a major environmental challenge. Considered as one of the major nonpoint pollution sources, the construction of new roadways can have short and long-term effects on water quality conditions. This study revealed that road construction activities may be responsible for introducing pollutants in nearby water sources, leading to the deterioration of water quality. The roadway expansion activities affect both the surface and groundwater quality. Furthermore, this study was conducted to assess the effects of a road construction project situated in the southern part of Albania, on physic-chemical parameters of surface water by collecting water samples from Skotini stream. The analysed parameters included pH, dissolved oxygen (DO), biological oxygen demand (BOD5), chemical oxygen demand (COD), electrical conductivity (ECw), total dissolved solids (TDS), salinity, nitrites (NO2 -), ammonium (NH4+) and total phosphorus (Ptot). The results revealed that all physicchemical parameters analysed in the laboratory are between the normal standards classifying these waters as very clean. Further surveillance for quality assessment of water sources near roadway's construction activities is needed. Various best management practices have been developed and implemented to prevent negative environmental impacts in the transport sector and roadway construction activities. Results of the water quality help strengthen the theory that roadway construction projects in the transport sector, using appropriate best management practices, could yield minimal impact on the overall water quality of surrounding water bodies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of this article is to present the procedure for obtaining an environmental decision using the example of an investment involving the reconstruction of a road. The case study concerned the reconstruction of a public municipal road No. 178044N Prostki - Ostrykół - Lipińskie Małe, Prostki municipality, Ełcki poviat, Warmińsko-Mazurskie voivodeship of the length of 4308.50m against legal regulations of obtaining environmental decisions. Through the interpretation of legal regulations, it was established that the described investment - under certain conditions - does not require obtaining an environmental decision. Based on literature studies, basic concepts and activities pertaining to the procedure of obtaining environmental decisions in Poland were presented. Moreover, the conclusions obtained as part of the research may prove useful to public investors who are obligated to verify their investments in terms of their legal compliance during the planning stage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of the road network has a positive impact on a wide range of factors determining the efficient functioning of the state and the development of its regions. At the same time, it is an interference in environmental and agricultural space and a threat to landscape and cultural values. Protection of a very diversified natural environment means preservation, sustainable use, and restoration of resources, creations, and components of nature. Hence, the environmentally friendly design and construction of road investments should include passive and active environmental protection and compensation. All effective solutions from a wide range of "good practices" minimise or eliminate the negative environmental impacts. At the same time, all those activities leading to the creation of an environmentally friendly "green" road network are "economically" estimated in economic analyses. The main goal of this paper is to indicate the "simplified" valuation of the pro-ecological approach to road construction in the assessment of economic effectiveness on the example of the Polish section of the S8 expressway (especially within protected areas). The lack of valuation in the monetary value of potential benefits resulting from avoidance, prevention or mitigation, unfortunately, has an impact on the economic result of cost-benefit analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the challenges associated with ecological impact assessment (EciA) faced by New Zealand Transport Agency project teams during constructing new roads. It further discusses increasing use of geographical information systems and modelling in environmental impact assessments for highways; lack of quantitative information regarding ecological effects of roads; and the agency relies on their ecologists for an appropriate EciA approach and accurate information.

This study aimed at pointing out the environmental importance of road construction in a semi-arid high mountainous area on soil erosion and some important soil properties throughout the forest road. In total 60 soil samples in both forest and open area were collected from topsoil (0-20 cm) of a cut slope, fill slope, and control points along with a forest road route. The soil properties were determined in the laboratory and the soil loss amounts were determined by way of an Allgemeine Boden Abtrags Gleichung (ABAG) simulation model. As a result, the road construction phase significantly changed (p<0.001) the soil erosion trend. Annual soil loss amounts (t/ha/yr.) determined cut slope > fill slope > control in both forest and open areas. Consequently, road construction efforts significantly affected topsoil loss and some soil properties such as organic matter, available water-holding capacity, and bulk density. According to the created scenario, under the same slope (68.72%) and slope length (3.26 m) conditions, the highest soil loss trend was in cut slope, which was significantly different (p<0.001) from fill slope and control in forested and open areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research is an attempt to compare engineering solutions for traffic intersections from a planning viewpoint. In this research, various solutions have been discussed for traffic intersections (traffic light, roundabout, underpass and overpass). The research highlighted the importance of each of these solutions in urban environments and clarified all variables related to the pros, cons, costs, capacity and environmental compatibility of each of these solutions with the surrounding urban environment. Weights were developed for all these variables, then correlation was determined using the linear regression method. The analysis of statistical results shows that the creation of underpasses often achieves most of the designated goals when compared to other solutions, despite some technical difficulties and high construction costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exurban areas are expanding throughout the world, yet their effects on local biodiversity remain poorly understood. Wetlands, in particular, face ongoing and substantial threats from exurban development. We predicted that exurbanization would reduce the diversity of wetland amphibian and invertebrate communities and that more spatially aggregated residential development would leave more undisturbed natural land, thereby promoting greater local diversity. Using structural equation models, we tested a series of predictions about the direct and indirect pathways by which exurbanization extent, spatial pattern, and wetland characteristics might affect diversity patterns in 38 wetlands recorded during a growing season. We used redundancy, indicator species, and nested community analyses to evaluate how exurbanization affected species composition. In contrast to expectations, we found higher diversity in exurban wetlands. We also found that housing aggregation did not significantly affect diversity. Exurbanization affected biodiversity indirectly by increasing roads and development, which promoted permanent wetlands with less canopy cover and more aquatic vegetation. These pond characteristics supported greater diversity. However, exurbanization was associated with fewer temporary wetlands and fewer of the species that depend on these habitats. Moreover, the best indicator species for an exurban wetland was the ram's head snail, a common disease vector in disturbed ponds. Overall, results suggest that exurbanization is homogenizing wetlands into more permanent water bodies. These more permanent, exurban ponds support higher overall animal diversity, but exclude temporary wetland specialists. Conserving the full assemblage of wetland species in expanding exurban regions throughout the world will require protecting and creating temporary wetlands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Linear disturbances such as roads are common in areas of intensive resource development. When roads cross peatlands, they can interrupt natural hydrologic processes and alter vegetation composition and structure. Hydrological changes to a poor fen impacted by a road in northeastern Alberta were evaluated using tree rings of living and dead black spruce trees. All trees that were less than 83.5 cm above the road’s single culvert died in 1989. The temporal uniformity of dieback suggested that a single inundation event caused the trees to drown. The inundation likely was caused by a culvert blocked by beavers, and indicates the critical role of hydrologic patterns and processes for controlling vegetation composition, including tree growth patterns and mortality. The disturbance of peatlands by roads could be reduced or eliminated by improving road designs to include multiple culverts that cannot easily be blocked by debris or beavers, or underdrain systems that create more natural surface and ground water flow patterns. In addition, regular inspection and maintenance could limit the negative effects of blocked point locations that can be dammed by beavers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amidst broad disciplinary, political and technological shifts in the 1960s, a handful of US urban designers experimented with highway design, thereby reconfiguring how human/nature relationships were enacted in the studio. This paper examines the specific techniques and methods used in two such experiments: a 1962 highway location study by architect Christopher Alexander and engineer Marvin Manheim, and a 1966 highway re-routing proposal by landscape architect and urban planner Ian McHarg. In some ways, these projects support the notion that 1960s design was increasingly technological and rational in character: they exemplify a key moment when data-oriented, computer-inspired approaches were integrated into urban and environmental design, and demonstrate designers' interests in developing more scientific, comprehensive and measurable approaches. Yet attending to these projects' techniques and methods reveals contradictions and complications within that broader narrative. In action, 1960s designers often made the categories of nature, ecology, data and technology multiplicitous and unstable, by speaking, viewing, drawing and performing them in different ways at different moments. In focusing on the actions of designing, this work contributes a new understanding of the ecocentric dimensions of 1960s US urban design, and examines the substantive roles of drawing technique and design method in defining human/nature relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, considering the sever impact of road infrastructures on both the surrounding environment as well as on the consumption of locally available natural resources, different road construction techniques have been studied and compared, in order to be able to rank the best solution in terms of environmental sustainability. For the aims of this study, a Life Cycle Analysis has been carried out on a road infrastructure with the most representative geometrical characteristics among those widely used in Italy, in suburban areas, with the help of an appropriate software, the PaLATE. The environmental effects due to both the use of recycled materials, such as the Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (RAP) from dismissing of damaged pavement layers, and the reuse of fine soil from excavation, traditionally sent to landfill, has been studied. The latter is possible thanks to lime stabilization of clayey soils, that allows to reduce the need of transport to the dump as well as the need for non-renewable natural resources for road subgrades and embankments. The results here obtained show how the use of RAP, can lead to a significant reduction in pollutant emissions and energy consumption compared to that due to pavements constructed with virgin material only. A similar observation can be made for fine soils stabilized (in situ) with lime: it is demonstrated that this technique is able not only to significantly improve the mechanical properties of useless soils that, otherwise, would be considered as a waste to be dumped but also to provide considerable environmental benefits. Finally, in order to identify a criterion for achieving lower generalized costs in the whole life cycle of a road, the different construction options have been estimated in terms of total direct costs, assessed as the sum of construction and maintenance costs. It has been verified that the use of sustainable construction techniques (RAP and lime stabilization of clayey soils) can lead to the reduction of total cost and thus allows allocating greater financial resources to perform an “ideal” maintenance plan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anthropogenic noise associated with highway construction and operation can have individual- and population-level consequences for wildlife (e.g., reduced densities, decreased reproductive success, behavioral changes). We used a before-after control-impact study design to examine the potential impacts of highway construction and traffic noise on endangered golden-cheeked warblers ( Setophaga chrysoparia; hereafter warbler) in urban Texas. We mapped and monitored warbler territories before (2009-2011), during (2012-2013), and after (2014) highway construction at three study sites: a treatment site exposed to highway construction and traffic noise, a control site exposed only to traffic noise, and a second control site exposed to neither highway construction or traffic noise. We measured noise levels at varying distances from the highway at sites exposed to construction and traffic noise. We examined how highway construction and traffic noise influenced warbler territory density, territory placement, productivity, and song characteristics. In addition, we conducted a playback experiment within study sites to evaluate acute behavioral responses to highway construction noises. Noise decreased with increasing distance from the highways. However, noise did not differ between the construction and traffic noise sites or across time. Warbler territory density increased over time at all study sites, and we found no differences in warbler territory placement, productivity, behavior, or song characteristics that we can attribute to highway construction or traffic noise. As such, we found no evidence to suggest that highway construction or traffic noise had a negative effect on warblers during our study. Because human population growth will require recurring improvements to transportation infrastructure, understanding wildlife responses to anthropogenic noise associated with the construction and operation of roads is essential for effective management and recovery of prioritized species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to develop and demonstrate a fuel-based approach for emissions factor estimation for highway paving construction equipment in China for better accuracy. A highway construction site in Chengdu was selected for this study with NO emissions being characterized and demonstrated. Four commonly used paving equipment, i.e., three rollers and one paver were selected in this study. A portable emission measurement system (PEMS) was developed and used for emission measurements of selected equipment during real–world highway construction duties. Three duty modes were defined to characterize the NO emissions, i.e., idling, moving, and working. In order to develop a representative emission factor for these highway construction equipment, composite emission factors were estimated using modal emission rates and the corresponding modal durations in the process of typical construction duties. Depending on duty mode and equipment type, NO emission rate ranged from 2.6–63.7mg/s and 6.0–55.6g/kg–fuel with the fuel consumption ranging from 0.31–4.52 g/s correspondingly. The NO composite emission factor was estimated to be 9–41mg/s with the single-drum roller being the highest and double-drum roller being the lowest and 6–30g/kg-fuel with the pneumatic tire roller being the highest while the double-drum roller being the lowest. For the paver, both time-based and fuel consumption-based NO composite emission rates are higher than all of the rollers with 56mg/s and 30g/kg-fuel, respectively. In terms of time–based quantity, the working mode contributes more than the other modes with idling being the least for both emissions and fuel consumption. In contrast, the fuel-based emission rate appears to have less variability in emissions. Thus, in order to estimate emission factors for emission inventory development, the fuel-based emission factor may be selected for better accuracy. Implications: The fuel-based composite emissions factors will be less variable and more accurate than time-based emission factors. As a consequence, emissions inventory developed using this approach will be more accurate and practical. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In view of the upcoming road network improvement and expansion in Ethiopia, specifically in Tigray, it is also necessary to understand the potential impacts of road accidents with wildlife vertebrate animals. Road mortality detection surveys were conducted from March 2013 to June 2014. We surveyed around 530 km using vehicle with special emphasis given to roads surrounded by wetlands, forests, rocky areas and rivers each month. Additional information was also collected using a standardized questionnaire. A total of twenty species, 143 individuals of amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals were recorded as road vehicular accidents in the surveyed area. Of all, mammals showed the highest species richness (80 individuals belonging to ten species) followed by birds (49 individuals belonging to eight species). The survey revealed most accidents happened during the early morning and late evening. This might be due to relatively high traffic and continued activity of wild animals at that time, besides the driver's inability to avoid accidents when it is dark. Wildlife underpasses during road construction, location of crossing structures, rules of wildlife conservation, improving driver's awareness are relevant in this context and may be the most important mitigation measures to reduce mortality of wildlife on the roads. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The high cost of traditional stabilizing agents such as lime and cement has led to the research on industrial and agricultural wastes as suitable alternatives. Rice growing areas of Kenya accumulate large quantities of rice husk which pose serious disposal problems. When burnt as a means of disposal, the rice husk ash formed is difficult to coagulate and thus contribute to air and water pollution, require a large space for disposal, and cause respiratory health problems when inhaled. Red coffee soil poses serious engineering problems such as swelling due to wetting, shrinkage due to drying, low bearing capacity, and differential settlement leading to cracks and needs improvement for strength and stability in service. Red coffee soil and rice husks samples were obtained from Gatundu and Mwea, respectively. The rice husk was burnt at temperatures between 500 and 700 °C to ensure maximal formation of siliceous component. Chemical analysis on the rice husk ash gave the sum of SiO, FeO, and AlO as 85.5 % indicating that it has pozzolanic activity. Rice husk ash was applied at 4, 6, 8, and 10 % by weight of dry soil. Plasticity index, liquid limit, and linear shrinkage decreased from 26.1, 67.1, and 13.0 % for lean sample to 18.5, 63.6, and 9.2 %, for 10 % rice husk ash stabilized samples, whereas plastic limit increased from 41.0 to 45.15 %. The soaked California bearing ratio value for rice husk ash stabilized samples increased from 5 to 22 % corresponding to soil subgrade class S4. However, lime-stabilized samples gave higher values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The construction of a road, directly and indirectly, impacts on the ecosystems where the road is built. Highways passing through national reserves/wildlife sanctuaries have an adverse impact on wild animals. The present survey was conducted to estimate the road kills on the state highways passingthrough the Nilgiri north territorial forest division (19km) and Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (15km) in Sigur Plateau, Tamil Nadu, India. The road kills were monitored three times a month between July 2013 and December 2013 (six months) and a total of 176 road kills belonging to 30 species were recorded. Reptiles were the most affected taxa (39%), followed by mammals (33%) and birds (21%). Amphibians were least affected by vehicular traffic and comprised 7% of the total kills. According to road stretch category, the overall road kill was N=135 in the forested area and N=41 in human habitations. A total of 812 food materials were encounterd 612km with average of 1.32 food materials / km. Conservation and management implications are essential to prevent the local extinction of wildlife. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of viaduct construction on the vegetation of a river valley was studied in Central Poland (Natura 2000 site PLH100006). The research aimed at assessing the suitability of ALS (airborne laser scanning), soil, and botanical data for monitoring the environmental effects of right-of-way reclamation 1 year after the road construction. Based on the data mentioned above, the following problems were identified: changes in topography and hydrological conditions of the valley as a result of improper land levelling, the use of inadequate soil for reclamation, no spontaneous regeneration of natural vegetation along the entire right-of-way, as well as the abundant occurrence of invasive species. The results of analysis were used to define strategies for mitigation of adverse impacts of the viaduct construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New infrastructure is needed globally to support economic development and improve human well-being. Investments that do not consider ecosystem services (ES) can eliminate these important societal benefits from nature, undermining the development benefits infrastructure is intended to provide. Such tradeoffs are acknowledged conceptually but in practice have rarely been considered in infrastructure planning. Taking road investments as one important case, here we examine where and what forms of ES information have the potential to meaningfully influence decisions by multilateral development banks (MDBs). Across the stages of a typical road development process, we identify where and how ES information could be integrated, likely barriers to the use of available ES information, and key opportunities to shift incentives and thereby practice. We believe inclusion of ES information is likely to provide the greatest development benefit in early stages of infrastructure decisions. Those strategic planning stages are typically guided by in-country processes, with MDBs playing a supporting role, making it critical to express the ES consequences of infrastructure development using metrics relevant to government decision makers. This approach requires additional evidence of the in-country benefits of cross-sector strategic planning and more tools to lower barriers to quantifying these benefits and facilitating ES inclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The making of present paper started from two reasons: first is because this taxa northern limit is on our country area and thus continues the series of works which aimes the species with limits area on Romania territory and second to draw an warning to the residents where this plant species is found and also to the responsible, because the surfaces in Oltenia where Ziziphora capitata Linnaeus 1753 grows (Valea Rea - Radovan) are in danger due to the zooanthropogenic factor (sheepfolds installation on these surfaces, E79 road widening, that crosses this area). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the ecological impacts of road construction by trapping rodents, invertebrates, and amphibians with wire-mesh traps and pitfalls along a road under construction on Kinmen island, Taiwan. The capture data show that the Brown country rat's (Rattus losea) edge habitat is broader in woodland habitat next to farmland than it is in woodland next to the road. Similarly, most invertebrates captured were found within the woodland at an edge width of 15 m along the roadside and 35 m along the farmland. On the other hand, the Ornate rice frog (Microhyla ornate),which typically resides and forages in dim and humid environments, avoids edges. The edge effect results in this paper are applied in a model for determining ecologically critical road density. The estimation of edge width and critical road density obtained in this study can be applied during road planning and design to assess the potential effects of habitat conversion during road construction. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The large-scale transportation infrastructure construction in developing countries such as China requires emission estimation method for better project design. This study proposed an empirical method to estimate carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emission which was generated from highway construction based on four real projects in southwest region of China. The proposed method estimated the total emission from different steps of construction process (raw material production, material transportation and onsite construction) by different project types (e.g. subgrade, pavement, bridge, and tunnels). The results show that in general over 80 percent of the CO 2 emission was generated from raw material production; the onsite construction and material transportation only accounted for 10 and 3 percent of the whole CO 2 emission, respectively. Moreover, the CO 2 emission from bridge and tunnel constructions was much larger than subgrade and pavement construction. The total CO 2 emission from road, bridge and tunnel constructions was 5229 kg/m, 35,547 kg/m and 42,302 kg/m, respectively. The empirical estimation method of the CO 2 emission proposed in this study can be considered as references for CO 2 emission estimation in other regions which are similar as southwest region of China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results of a study on the impact of climate change on road infrastructure in South Africa. The approach used built on previous work associated with the UNU-WIDER Development under Climate Change (DUCC) effort, emphasizing understanding of the impact of climate change on roads. This paper illustrates how climate change effects on road infrastructure can be evaluated at a national and provincial level to produce quantitative estimates of climate change from multiple future scenarios. The results of the study indicate that the national-level climate change cost impact in South Africa will vary between US$116.8 million and US$228.7 million annually in the 2050 decade for the median and maximum climate scenarios if a no-adaptation policy action is taken. Conversely, if a proactive adaptation action is taken, these costs can be reduced to US$55.7 million. The savings in costs arising from climate change impacts based on this policy approach is equivalent to building more than 10,000 km of new, secondary paved road by 2050. The analysis focused on the advantage of a proactive policy approach: the upgrade of road infrastructure where climate impacts will exceed current design and maintenance standards. A stressor-response methodology created by the writers is briefly explained, including the application of 54 potential climate futures using general circulation models (GCMs) approved by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). This paper focuses on provincial-level impacts of both a proactive and a reactive approach. Decadal and average annual costs are detailed through 2100. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Uncertainty about the scale of future demand presents a challenge for infrastructure design. The attraction of flexible strategies, incorporating upgrade options that can be exercised when and if required, has been recognized for a long time. The techniques of real options allowed the benefits of flexible strategies to be quantified for the first time. A new and simplified methodology for real options analysis has been developed and implemented in software. It performs evaluation in both cost and environmental impact terms. A case study of a real highway in Spain was evaluated using the new methodology and software. Seven alternative strategies for the roadway (subgrade, base course, and surface course) were evaluated, six with upgrade options that are exercised if the traffic demand crosses specified thresholds. The rate of traffic growth, and also the discount rate for financial evaluation, were treated as uncertain variables. The highway was designed when the Spanish economy was growing strongly and a high roadway specification performed best. Before the highway was built the economy crashed and construction was canceled. Recalculation for the posteconomic shock conditions with lower traffic growth and a higher interest rate favored a lower highway specification with upgrade options. Sensitivity analysis shows how the specification choice varies with the values taken by the uncertain variables. A novel specification was proposed to maximize flexibility when there is high uncertainty about traffic growth, and evaluation showed that it performed better in many conditions. The methodology of evaluating flexible strategies could be used in many applications, including infrastructure for climate change adaptation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effectiveness of mitigation measures adopted in a scheme of EIA follow-up by examining their performance in reducing geo-environmental impacts in earthwork activities during the Rodoanel southern section construction in São Paulo, Brazil. This environment is fragile in terms of affected watersheds because the highway crosses two important reservoirs that supply most of the metropolitan water demand. Therefore, this research also aims at promoting water quality control. Design/methodology/approach – This study combines complementary sources as evidences in the literature and field checks, tests and monitoring. The methodology was supported by criteria for evaluating the effectiveness of mitigation measures in the case study approach. Findings – The EIA follow-up activities contributed to the maintenance of environmental conditions in the majority of the control points at the end of the construction phase. Water quality parameters were not statistically different before and during the construction of the highway. The choice and arrangement of mitigation measures were successful in ensuring water quality control by avoiding siltation. Practical implications – A robust scheme for designing and evaluating mitigation measures contributes to the improvement of their effectiveness and is pivotal to the success of the EIA follow-up. Originality/value – This case study serves as an example for extending EIA follow-up practice in special to the improvement of the design and evaluation of mitigation measures in similar contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses research being done on the balance between conservation and national development. it references the study "Road as a Threat to the Serengeti Ecosystem," by R. Fyumagwa et al. in the 2013 issue of "Conservation Biology." Topics discussed include the impact of road construction on the ecosystem inside the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania, the alternative route for the road by which Tanzania could alleviate poverty, and the economic value of the three of possible routes.

Sustainable development based on economic growth that is environmentally sound is increasingly essential. To achieve both ecological and social progress without detracting from China's primary economic objectives, China's Ministry of Communications has promoted the strategy of harmonious road systems, for which artistic principles are incorporated in the road's design to balance the needs of the environment with those of socioeconomic development without neglecting human esthetic needs. To illustrate the new strategy's impact, we examined a project that has been conducted following this approach in the Shennongjia region of China's Hubei Province since 2004. As in the use of ecological corridors, the new strategy emphasizes the need to decrease the impact of road construction on plant and animal habitats by emphasizing the protection of existing natural habitats and the use of local species for revegetation of the land surrounding the roads. However, it also emphasizes the need to improve traffic safety, promote local tourism and economic growth, and provide a demonstration to citizens (including bureaucrats) of the need for environmental protection both during and after road construction. After 6 years of monitoring, we found that the new strategy both satisfies the human desire for beauty and improves the road's harmony with nature and the surrounding visual landscape while promoting environmental conservation, ecotourism, traffic safety, socioeconomic development, and cultural values. This approach will help to guide future landscape design, planning, and management. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental impacts need to be predicted so that their prevention, or enhancement in the case of positive impacts, can be incorporated into road works. The inclusion of environmental protection measures into the road design, construction and maintenance can result in long-term cost savings. This paper provides an insight into soil erosion control measures that have been implemented on rural roads improvements project in Nyanza Province, western Kenya. The measures promote the need for participation of local communities in addressing soil erosion challenges. Experience has shown that community participation enhances dialogue among various stakeholders and ensures ownership, transparency and accountability in public infrastructure delivery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Roads constructed in fragile Siwaliks are prone to large number of instabilities. Bhalubang-Shiwapur section of Mahendra Highway lying in Western Nepal is one of them. To understand the landslide causative factor and to predict future occurrence of the landslides, landslide susceptibility mapping (LSM) of this region was carried out using frequency ratio (FR) and weights-of-evidence (W of E) models. These models are easy to apply and give good results. For this, landslide inventory map of the area was prepared based on the aerial photo interpretation, from previously published/unpublished reposts, and detailed field survey using GPS. About 332 landslides were identified and mapped, among which 226 (70%) were randomly selected for model training and the remaining 106 (30%) were used for validation purpose. A spatial database was constructed from topographic, geological, and land cover maps. The reclassified maps based on the weight values of frequency ratio and weights-of-evidence were applied to get final susceptibility maps. The resultant landslide susceptibility maps were verified and compared with the training data, as well as with the validation data. From the analysis, it is seen that both the models were equally capable of predicting landslide susceptibility of the region (W of E model (success rate = 83.39%, prediction rate = 79.59%); FR model (success rate = 83.31%, prediction rate = 78.58%)). In addition, it was observed that the distance from highway and lithology, followed by distance from drainage, slope curvature, and slope gradient played major role in the formation of landsides. The landslide susceptibility maps thus produced can serve as basic tools for planners and engineers to carry out further development works in this landslide prone area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Road construction and usage have a wide range of direct and indirect negative effects on protected areas. The impact of state roads on protected areas in Vojvodina was reviewed in this article, based on the orientation values of habitat loss and secondary negative effects originating from traffic functioning. Results of the assessment indicate that the use of existing roads constructed on habitats within the national ecological network exceeded the capacity of individual PA-protected areas (e.g., in case of Straža Natural Monument). Recorded capacity overflow on other PAs occurs solely as a consequence of overlapping between protected areas and areas of influence of roads routed along the borders of protected areas (which is the case with Slano Kopovo Special Nature Reserve and Selevenjske pustare Special Nature Reserve). The aim of this article is to show that even with the smallest values of the parameters related to the width of roads and critical distance from the habitat, the vulnerability of certain core areas of the national ecological network is evident. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The article focuses on the environmental issues related to 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia. Topics discussed include disruptions to the ancient ecosystems in the Sochi National Park due to rail and roads construction projects, the naming of the Adler-to-Krasnaya Polyana combined train track and road project as the Major Tunnelling Project of the Year in 2011 and legal deforestation performed for making ways for ski trails, chair lifts and spectator facilities.

Nowadays, the decision makers in the transportation industry are being urged to incorporate environmental costs into road network design decision making because road traffic affects the environment and health. The design of a road network should not only be cost-effective but also environmentally sustainable. This article proposes a new network design problem (NDP) that takes both vehicle emissions and noise into account. This proposed environmentally sustainable NDP is formulated as a discrete bilevel program. The lower-level problem is formulated as user-equilibrium assignment. The upper-level problem determines the optimal road capacity expansion to minimize the total costs of emissions, noise, and travel time with the considerations of budgetary and capacity improvement constraints. The proposed problem is solved by an enhanced version of a new meta-heuristic named Chemical Reaction Optimization (CRO), and its parameters are tuned by our proposed tuning procedure. Two benchmark road networks with different demand levels are used to evaluate the performance of the enhanced CRO and illustrate the properties of the problem. The results show that there were tradeoffs between emissions, noise, and travel time costs, and that the enhanced CRO outperformed Genetic Algorithm (GA) on more than half of the testing scenarios and had a comparable performance on certain test scenarios compared with GA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main purpose of this research was to introduce a method for planning forest road network by combining geographical information system (GIS) and analytic hierarchy process (AHP) in a form that environmental factors such as ground stability were incorporated in the planning process. After collection of data and building the necessary maps of study area, the effective factors in forest road allocation were identified and forest potential to road construction was determined and classified. After that, the maps of slope, volume per hectare, aspect, altitude, forest type, and ground stability were prepared. In the next step, concerning the importance and the role of the mentioned elements in the road construction cost, prepared maps were rated using AHP to determine the weight of both the effective factors and their categories. Then, forest potential map of road construction was prepared by overlaying the weighted maps of the mentioned factors. The later map was categorized to three classes including high, moderate and low capability. The results of this study showed that about 88% of the proposed roads were located in the regions with high and moderate road construction capability; as well, it provided an accessibility of 80% for the plan area. Results also showed that using of a GIS-AHP method could improve the accessibility to the district and could ensure that routs will pass from stable regions. The introduced method can be used as a useful method for planning of forest road network in mountain areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Millions of culverts exist in the United States, and they are aging rapidly. Inspection of all the culverts consumes a lot of time and resources. Instead of inspecting each culvert every 5 years, this study presents a more intelligent approach to predict the condition of each culvert. An artificial neural network (ANN) model is built to assess the condition of the culverts based on culvert inventory data. The overall condition-rating predictions are compared with the condition rating based on manual inspection. The results of this study have shown that ANN was able to predict culvert adjusted overall rating with high precision, as the course of action score prediction rate was 100%. Sensitivity analysis of the ANN model is provided to assess the effect of variables. The goal of this study is to show that more intelligent culvert-management systems could be devised by taking advantage of artificial intelligence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the environmental impact of the planned road through northern Tanzania that crosses the Serengeti National Park (SNP). The authors disagree with claims that the road will lead to demise of the national park. They believe that other threats will have effects on the site, including human population growth, the destruction of the Mau Forest catchment area of Mara River, climate change and poverty.

Peru today is one of the main staging grounds for a continent-wide integration effort. Launched in 2000, the Initiative for the Integration of Regional Infrastructure in South America (IIRSA) calls for an enormous expansion of the continent's transport and energy networks and an effort to increase the region's economic competitiveness. Among its most controversial projects is the Interoceanic Highway linking western Brazil with the Pacific coast of Peru. The highway has attracted fierce criticism from NGOs who point to major environmental impacts, an inadequate mitigation process, and a lack of transparency in funding flows and decision making. In an effort to voice their concerns, these groups engage the idea of 'environmental governance' to increase public participation in the development process and promote ecological sustainability. This alternative framework in turn opens up space for 'environmental citizenship'. This article takes a closer look at how Peruvian NGOs employ this idea and suggests that while the group's advocacy of governance has had success, the building of environmental citizenship will require a move beyond urban Peruvian NGOs as technical experts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Construction dust impacts are a significant potential environmental effect of state highway construction. This paper investigates current practice in managing construction dust emissions for state highway projects in New Zealand (NZ) and considers the effectiveness of this practice as well as the limitations. In recent years, state highway construction dust monitoring required by designation conditions in NZ has lacked a clear purpose and methodology appropriate to effectively assessing and managing the effects of dust. In a case study from the Victoria Park tunnel project, a single reference equivalent instrument in a fixed location was used to try and achieve two different objectives, the first being to use monitoring for active dust control, and the second being to demonstrate compliance with a resource consent condition (often retrospectively) using a reference equivalent method. A state highway project will often be long and linear and therefore a single, fixed monitoring location for regulatory purposes is of limited value over the duration of the project. However, the alternative options are to either have multiple reference instruments or to shift a single instrument numerous times, which is often costly and impractical. Most state highway dust monitoring conditions in NZ require reference equivalent methods and compliance with a 24 hour average TSP limit of 80 µg m-3 It is recommended that appropriate guidance should be developed on methods for monitoring appropriate short term trigger values to achieve active dust management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the major construction and environmental challenges faced by civil engineers in upgrading the Main Road between Kalk Bay and St. James in Cape Town, South Africa. Topics discussed include poor condition of the sewer pipes, challenges in laying ductile iron water main, and benefits of the road rehabilitation project.

Sustainable road construction is now one of the major interests of highway authorities. In this study, recycled material (steel slag aggregates) was used to replace granite aggregates in the construction of a porous pavement surface course. Besides using recycled aggregates, the asphalt mixture was designed to achieve improved environmental sustainability performance by providing enhanced wet-pavement skid resistance and visibility of road markings in wet weather conditions, and reduced tyre-pavement noise. Two new asphalt mix types using steel slag aggregate of different gradations (i.e. maximum aggregate size of 13.2 mm and 16 mm) were tested in the laboratory and the performance monitored on the site. From the results obtained from field monitoring tests, it was observed that the new asphalt mixes provided sufficient drainage of water, displayed comparable wet-pavement skid resistance and better reduction in tyre-pavement noise as compared with the other types of asphalt mix currently used in Singapore. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the Bolivian ‘post’ consultation about the contested construction of a highway through the TIPNIS has received a lot of attention, very little is known about the 27 prior consultations that have been concluded between June 2007 and February 2012 in its hydrocarbon sector. This article focuses on these procedures and presents three emblematic cases in more detail. It identifies frequent shortcomings of consultation practices like the ‘information hurdle’, irregularities, the limited decision-making power of affected local populations and the lack of transparency regarding the compensation payments. The article argues that consultations could be improved by complementing international human rights instruments on indigenous rights with insights from deliberative theories. It concludes that as long as local ideas of self-determined development remain subordinated to prioritized extractive industries, the right to free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) will remain distant, even in a plurinational state like Bolivia. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The last 20 years have seen a dramatic increase in efforts to mitigate the negative effects of roads and traffic on wildlife, including fencing to prevent wildlife-vehicle collisions and wildlife crossing structures to facilitate landscape connectivity. While not necessarily explicitly articulated, the fundamental drivers behind road mitigation are human safety, animal welfare, and/or wildlife conservation. Concomitant with the increased effort to mitigate has been a focus on evaluating road mitigation. So far, research has mainly focussed on assessing the use of wildlife crossing structures, demonstrating that a broad range of species use them. However, this research has done little to address the question of the effectiveness of crossing structures, because use of a wildlife crossing structure does not necessarily equate to its effectiveness. The paucity of studies directly examining the effectiveness of crossing structures is exacerbated by the fact that such studies are often poorly designed, which limits the level of inference that can be made. Without well performed evaluations of the effectiveness of road mitigation measures, we may endanger the viability of wildlife populations and inefficiently use financial resources by installing structures that are not as effective as we think they are. In this paper we outline the essential elements of a good experimental design for such assessments and prioritize the parameters to be measured. The framework we propose will facilitate collaboration between road agencies and scientists to undertake research programs that fully evaluate effectiveness of road mitigation measures. We discuss the added value of road mitigation evaluations for policy makers and transportation agencies and provide recommendations on how to incorporate such evaluations in road planning practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Roads affect wildlife in many ways, and probably the most conspicuous of these is by producing roadkills. In Mexico few studies have addressed this issue. In the present study, we look at the richness and abundance of vertebrate roadkills along a 14 km stretch of the Amozoc-Cantona-Perote highway, at the border of the states of Veracruz and Puebla and across two environments: shrubland and grassland. The highway was sampled on 34 days between June 2010 and March 2011. A total of 946 animals were recorded as killed by traffic, and belonged to 58 species. Ten of these are under some protection status by Mexican law. Diversity values for shrubland were D = 0.52 and for grassland D = 1.2, both with Bray-Curtis similarity values of I = 0.12 and complementarity (C) was 98.5. The most common roadkilled animals were rodents (genus Peromyscus). We estimate that 11,899 vertebrates are killed annually in this section of the highway. This study highlights the need for designing and applying policies and actions for road construction and maintenance that, together with driver's education, will allow us to increase landscape connectivity and decrease wildlife roadkills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

France has constrained the Aquitaine region to set up a climate plan to avoid an emission of 2883 ktCO2eq for the period 2007–2013. In parallel, the region has decided to carry out the construction of road infrastructures in order to avoid very high congestion costs. Those road projects will involve an increase in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions during that period. In the present context of strong sustainability, all emissions (direct and indirect) generated by those projects should be offset. At the regional level, the offsetting of GHG emissions is usually carried out by implementing carbon sequestration projects or projects that reduce energy demand. This paper aims at determining the maximum budget for financing GHG emissions offsetting projects, with computation being based on the opportunity costs of projects, the minimum cost of economic activity reduction required to offset emissions from those projects. The maximum budget devoted to GHG emissions offsetting projects should not exceed €2001 1920 M to €2001 3592 M, according to low/high traffic growth assumptions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Because pervious concrete pavement (PCP) has a porous structure and can percolate water to an underground layer, it has been proposed as a stormwater best management practice (BMP), an environmentally friendly product, and sustainable paving materials. This porosity makes PCP susceptible to freeze-thaw damage in cold climates. Therefore, PCP has not been widely applied and investigated in such a climate. Long-term performance data are rarely available, and no performance model has been developed for PCP to date. The main objective of this research is to integrate expert knowledge (using the Markov-chain process) and experimental data (PCP field investigations) to build a performance model for PCP through incorporation of the Bayesian technique. The combination of these sources of data is an efficient and effective approach to build a performance model for a new type of pavement, such as PCP, which has not had a long-term performance database. As a result, a robust linear performance model is developed and applied to predict the service life of PCP. The service life of PCP is estimated to be approximately nine years using the developed performance model. In general, the expert knowledge leads to more conservative results rather than experimental data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]