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Abstract
Using GIS to Minimize Environmental Impacts of Road Alignments
Track: Transportation and Logistics
Author(s): Shefali Bhattarya, Ilir Bejleri, Paul Zwick
GeoPlan Center at the University of Florida and the Florida Department of Transportation have developed a GIS-enabled application that identifies early in the transportation planning phase new road proposals that may have severe impacts on the environment. In order to assist the analysts and ultimately provide the decision makers with more rigorous analysis, the research team expanded this application with predictive capabilities by developing and implementing a methodology that analytically determines alternative road alignments that keep the environmental impact to minimum. Using ArcView Spatial Analyst software's ModelBuilder, the environmental criteria of concern are prioritized and combined together to create the impacted surface. The application of the least-cost path algorithm based on the impacted surface determines the paths that present the least environmental impact.
Shefali Bhattarya
University of Florida
431 Arch. Building
Gainesville, FL 32611
USA
Phone: (352) 392-0997
Fax: (352) 392-3308
E-mail: shefalibhattarya@hotmail.com