Publication Abstract

ASSESSING ENVIRONMENTAL-IMPACTED FEATURES OF EIA STUDY IN CORRIDOR PLANNING BASED ON GIS AND REMOTE SENSING TECHNOLOGIES

Nobrega, R. A. A., O'Hara C., Sadasivuni, R., & Stich, B. (2012). ASSESSING ENVIRONMENTAL-IMPACTED FEATURES OF EIA STUDY IN CORRIDOR PLANNING BASED ON GIS AND REMOTE SENSING TECHNOLOGIES. V Simposio Brasileiro de Ciencias Geodesicas e Technologia da Geoinformacao. Recife, Brazil: Federal University of Pernambuco UFPE.

Abstract

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) involves technical analysis considering positive and negative influences on a project related with the environment. EIA projects provide information for planning and design, therefore ensure decision-makers to consider biophysical, social, and other relevant aspects prior to major decisions being taken. The goal is to reduce adverse impacts and design to suit the local environment. In transportation, EIA is normally performed along the corridor buffers constructed for the alternatives of the proposed road. All the relevant environmentally-related features intersecting these buffer zones, such as wetlands, rivers-crossings, settlements, archeological sites, cemetery are considered in the study. Since transportation projects require substantial area, the appropriate use of current remote sensing and spatial technologies in USDOTs effectively reduce time and cost demanded on EIA. This paper addresses a methodology to assess and work with the environmental-impacted features using commercial remote sensing and GIS technologies. Existing national coverage databases of hydrology, soils, and land use are combined. The results show that these data can mitigate potential environmental-impacted features for an alternative segment. The research is been conducted on SIU-9 of I-69/I-269 as a test-bed. Finally, the resultant environmental-impacted features are compared with the existing features using a matrix.