As environmental issues are coming to the forefront of transport planners' and traffic engineers' attention, the question is raised of how to quickly assess the environmental impact of various proposed road schemes at a design stage. This paper describes how the Environmental Capacity Technique has been incorporated with a transportation planning computer suite to give quick and easily understandable analysis of the environmental impact on traffic schemes enabling comparison with each other and the do-minimum case. The paper reviews applicable environmental standards and describes how predictive equations were modified to be incorporated in a transportation planning suite. It continues by describing the application of the especially written programs to a study area, the result obtained and the strengths and weaknesses of the followed methodology identified. It describes how the technique can be used for interactive iterative design of highway schemes. The paper concludes by discussing the results of the computer modelling of the study area and from these draws conclusion on the requirements for improvement of the computer programs, describes the latest work and highlights the need for further research. Further comments are made on issues raised by the study about the general approach to road traffic and the environment.
Abstract