Description

Development of highway projects is generally intended to improve the economic and social welfare of the people. At the same time it may also create adverse impact on the surrounding environment. People and properties may be in the direct path of road works are affected. The environmental impact of highway projects include damage to sensitive eco-systems, soil erosion, changes to drainage pattern and thereby ground water, interference with wild life movement, loss of productive agricultural lands, resettlement of people, disruption of local economic activities, demographic changes and accelerated urbanization. Highway development and operation should, therefore, be planned with careful consideration of the environmental impact. To minimize these adverse effects that may be created by the highway development projects the techniques of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) become necessary.

A continuous growth in vehicular traffic during the last two decades has demanded the construction of a new or extension of existing highways to develop an improved transportation network in India. The development of an efficient and environmentally sound transportation system has assumed much greater importance in India which emphasis on EIA on the forthcoming projects. EIA is a process of predicting and evaluating an action's impact on the environment.