Natural Resources/Environmental Sustainability
A green roadway should be designed, built, and maintained so that it protects the natural environment, is respectful of people and place, and is part of an effort to achieve a sustainable future.
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Natural Resources/Environmental Sustainability
A green roadway should be designed, built, and maintained so that it protects the natural environment, is respectful of people and place, and is part of an effort to achieve a sustainable future. In combination with safety, the goal of green roadways is to protect existing natural resources. This means avoiding these resources by carefully considering where and how a roadway is developed. The horizontal alignment of a road can be shifted to avoid natural resources, and vertical alignments can be adjusted to minimize cut and fill, thus reducing the extent of impact. Retaining walls, geotextiles, and other methods can be used to protect existing natural resources. At times, impacts to natural resources are unavoidable. When impacts do occur, emphasis should be on restoring or repairing the resources that have been damaged. The focus should be on maintaining a healthy, sustainable environment where natural processes continue to function as normal. There may even be opportunities to enhance existing conditions and improve environmental quality. In recent years, the concept of environmental stewardship has increasingly gained acceptance. Environmental stewardship is the practice of not only protecting but enhancing the environment as a routine part of project development. As stated in chapter 2, NEPA requires that natural resources be considered as part of any transportation
project, and for good reason. Research has shown that a road’s environmental footprint can be as much as twenty times the actual width of the right-of-way. The level of environmental review varies widely, depending on the scale and impact of the project. Environmental permits have to be secured before a transportation project can be developed, and each permit process is unique and involves interagency coordination, information submission, possibly special public hearings, and specific forms or applications.
Wildlife Habitat A green roadway respects wildlife. More than one million vertebrates, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals are killed on roads each day in this country. For motorists, this is a safety hazard. For animals, it means disrupted migration and feeding patterns, destroyed or degraded habitat, and fragmentation. Instead of accepting this as the cost of doing business, we need to develop roads that reduce vehicle-wildlife collisions, preserve habitat, and maintain safe wildlife movement corridors. Preservation starts with minimizing the extent of impact and protecting existing habitat areas before, during, and after construction. The many effects of roadways that can be detrimental to wildlife include
J.L. Sipes and M.L. Sipes, Creating Green Roadways: Integrating Cultural, Natural, and Visual Resources into Transportation, DOI 10.5822/978-1-59726-322-1_9, © 2013 James L. Sipes and Matthew L. Sipes
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habitat loss, habitat fragmentation, altered habitat quality, population fragmentation, and disruption of environmental processes. Fragmentation is t
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