Transportation Engineering Environmental Impact

Transport or transportation is the movement of humans, animals and goods from one
location to another1. In other words, it is a system for taking people or goods from
one place to another2. Its significance to human civilisation is magnanimous that its
field has been always considered in research and studies for its enhancement; seeking
a breakthrough discovery. Hence, engendering Transportation Engineering.

Transportation Engineering is the application of scientific principles and technologies

to the planning, design, analysis, operation, and management of transportation systems
for a full range of modes of transportation, e.g. highway, urban transit, air, rail and
water, in order to provide for the movement of people and goods from one place to
another in a safe and efficient manner1.

However, in spite of technological advancement in such field, more complicated

problems that were deemed cumbersome to find appropriate solutions arise; not to
mention its environmental drawbacks. Transportation systems are found to be linked
with a wide range of environmental catastrophe and if keep neglected, irreversible
damages could be done.

In fact, every year the Netherlands incurs 31 billion euros worth of damage to the
environment through the emission of harmful substances, according a study by the
Netherlands environmental assessment agency PBL. That amounts to 4.5 percent of the
country's gross domestic product. Traffic and transport account for the most
environmental damage. According to the PBL, this sector is responsible for 12 billion
euros worth of environmental damage per year. More than two thirds of the damage
caused by this sector, is caused by nitrogen oxides 7.

The nature of environmental impacts is related to the transport modes themselves, their
energy supply systems, their emissions and the infrastructures over which they operate.
While consuming large quantities of energy, especially oil, vehicles also emits
numerous pollutants such as carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide and noise and transport
infrastructures have damaged many ecological systems. Several of the environmental
impacts of transport systems have been externalized, implying that the benefits of
mobility are realized by a few while the costs are assumed by the whole society. The
spatial structure of economics activities, notably their land use, is also increasingly
linked with environmental impacts. The sustainability of transport systems has become
one core issue in the provision of mobility.5

Problems related to transportation gain world attentions that local government and
even independent organisations were working for the abatement of such
environmental concerns cause by transportations that given rise to the advocacy and
prioritisation of sustainable transportation.

Sustainable transportation is the capacity to support the mobility needs of a society in a

manner that is the least damageable to the environment and does not impair the
mobility needs of future generations.6

According to Dr. Jean-Paul Rodriguei, environmental impacts of transportation fall

within three categories: direct impacts, indirect impacts and cumulative impacts.S

Direct impacts is the immediate consequence of transport activities on the environment

where the cause and effect relationship is generally clear and well understood for
example noise and carbon monoxide emissions are known to have direct harmful
effects.

Indirect impacts is a secondary (or tertiary) effects of transport activities on

environmental systems. They are often of higher consequence than direct impacts, but
the involved relationships are often misunderstood and more difficult to establish. For
instance, particulates which are mostly the outcome of incomplete combustion in an
internal combustion engine are indirectly linked with respiratory and cardiovascular
problems since they contribute among other factors to such conditions.

Cumulative impacts is the additive, multiplicative or synergetic consequences of

transport activities. They take into account of the varied effects of direct and indirect
impacts on an ecosystem, which are often unpredictable. Climate change, with
complex causes and consequences, is the cumulative impact of several natural and
anthropogenic factors, in which transportation plays a role. 15% of global CO2
emissions are attributed to the transport sector.

The growth of speedy transportation is man’s greatest achievement in minimising

distances but at the same time it has also become a cause of environmental
degradation. Concern over the environmental consequences of transport development
is long-standing. The environmental implications of transport development have
become very widely recognised with a plethora of local, national and international,
governmental and non-governmental organisations contributing to the debate by
producing their own policy prescriptions and agendas for action.
In considering the relationship between transport and the environment we are
immediately confronted with a potential paradox: on the one hand, modern industrial
societies pursue economic growth through the open exchange of people, raw
materials, energy, goods and services in an increasingly global marketplace, yet, on the
other, the transport systems required to allow such exchange may be exerting
pressures on the environment that degrade the functional integrity and quality of
natural ecosystems to the extent that the prospect of maintaining or achieving a high
quality of life in many human societies is threatened. In short, we cannot live without
transport development, but neither may we be able to cope with its side-effects over
the long term.

The European Union’s Fifth Environmental Action Programme states that transport is
“vital to the distribution of goods and services, and to trade and to regional
development”, but argues that current trends towards increasing transport demand are
likely to result in “greater inefficiency, congestion, pollution, wastage of time and value,
danger to life and general economic loss” (Commission of the European Communities,
1992:6). 7

Some of the major environmental impacts of transport development are rapid energy
consumption, air pollution, noise pollution, land consumption and landscape damage
and ecological degradation.

Rapid Energy Consumption

Transport requires energy mainly for vehicle operation and to some extent also for
manufacturing of the vehicle.
The energy consumption in transport sector is the main cause of pollution. There are
significant differences in fuel efficiencies between various modes of transport, for
example, consumption of energy in cars is more among urban transport modes.
Although there has been a significant improvement in the fuel efficiency in cars and
other automobiles. It is estimated that in developed countries like UK. The traffic
increases up to 142 per cent predicted for the year 2025, the energy consumption will
continue to increase substantially, in spite of fuel efficiency measures.

Air pollution
Transport is a major source of air pollution not only in developed but in developing
countries also. Ecologists believe that the rapid increase in the number of vehicles on
our roads, which has taken place without any real restriction, is fast developing into an
environmental crisis. Exhaust fumes are the major source of atmospheric pollution by
the motor vehicle.
i) Carbon monoxide (CO):
This is a poisonous gas caused as a result of incomplete combustion;
(ii) Un-burnt hydrocarbons (HC):
This is caused by the evaporation of petrol and the discharge of only partially burnt
hydrocarbons;
(iii) Other gases and deposits:
Nitrogen oxides, tetraethyl lead and carbon dust particles;
(iv) Aldehydes:
Organic compounds containing the group CHO in their structures.
It is clear that very large amount of pollutants are being emitted from various forms of
transport into the air that we breathe. These emissions are also responsible for the
increase in ‘global warming’. The most obvious way of achieving a reduction in
pollution by motor vehicles is to reduce the emission of fumes at source. A short-term
solution is likely to be made by medications to the present type of engine and to
improve combustion within the exhaust system, as Japanese manufactures have done
in many cases.

Noise Pollution
Another side’ effect of transport systems is the noise pollution. It is estimated that some
135 million people in OECD countries suffer transport noise levels in excess of 65 db.
Figure 7.2 shows the noise levels from different sources including transportation.
The sources of noise from road vehicles are many and varied, including break squeal,
door slam, loose loads, horns, over-amplified music systems, etc. Rail noise depends on
the form of propulsion, the nature and load, the speed of train and the type of track.
The noise pollution problems around airports are well known.

Land Consumption and Landscape Damage

The provision of land-based transport requires the direct utilisation of land. Long strips
of land are consumed, and large areas effectively divided into smaller ones (severance).
Previous land uses, such as forestry, agriculture, housing and nature reserves, may be
displaced, and zones adjacent to the new development rendered unsuitable for wide
range of activities.
The latter aspect is true of pipelines carrying volatile materials (such as pressurised
gas), for example, where a corridor of land along the route must be kept undeveloped
for safety reason, even if the pipeline itself causes no direct consumption of land.
Ironically, severance may seriously restrict the movement of people and animals
between previously contiguous areas, with consequences for the quality of community
life and the functional integrity of ecosystems.
Airports are such large blocks of land that they create severance effects in their
particular location. Some severance effects, notably those of non-motorway type roads,
are only partial, though increasing traffic density and speed increases the danger of
pedestrian crossings on the same level. Traffic engineers have introduced more light-
controlled crossings in recognition of this problem.
The use of road tunnels or viaducts can reduce severance, especially in urban areas,
though the latter introduce significant visual impact, and both solutions are costly. Land
consumption is not just a direct consequence of transport development; it may also
occur indirectly as land is utilised for the extraction of the raw materials (principally
aggregate) required for construction. An average of 76,000 tonnes of aggregate is
required per kilometre of road lane, and approximately 90 million tonnes of
aggregates are used in the UK every year in the construction and repair of roads (Royal
Commission on Environmental Pollution, 1994).
Major impact of transport-related land loss and land use change may be a decline in
the visual amenity or aesthetic attraction of the landscape. Visual impact may be
essentially linear in nature for road, rail and inland waterway developments, or nodal in
character as with the large terminal installations of sea and airports. Information on the
scale of transport related landscape damage and loss of visual amenity is not widely
available, partly due to the difficulties of assessing existing landscape quality.
Obviously, however, the impact of adverse landscape change is likely to be much more
significant in areas of high scenic value, such as national parks and mountain passes, or
where a flat topography allows visual intrusion over a wide area.

Ecological Degradation
The degradation of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, as measured by indicators such
as reduced habitat/species diversity, primary productivity or the areal extent of ecologi
cally valuable plant and animal communities, provides one of the most emotive aspects
of the tension between transport development and environmental quality.
Severance is another direct consequence of land-based transport development. The
physical division of natural or semi-natural ecosystems may inhibit the movement of
animal and plant species across transport lines, and the associated reduction in size can
threaten the viability and/or biodiversity of the smaller remnants. Likewise, the death of
individual animals through collision with vehicles will be an all-too- familiar direct
consequence of road transport for many readers. A recent report by Scottish Natural
Heritage (1994) included a study, which put the annual road-kill loss of breeding
amphibians in Scotland at 20-40 per cent, with an annual kill of barn owls of at least
3,000 individuals.
However, the indirect or secondary effects of transport development may also be
responsible for many adverse impacts on wildlife, including those associated with air,
water and noise pollution (described below). With reference to water pollution, for
example, one could point to the ecological destruction associated with catastrophic,
and internationally reported, oil leaks from stricken tanks or the contamination of
coastal ecosystems. In brief, transport systems have had environmental effects. The
effects of the various transport modes have been discussed. Table 7.2 indicates main
environmental effects of transport.