What harmful effects does a highway have on the environment?
When highways were put in a few years back… what did it do to the environment? How did it impact nature and their habitats?
When highways were put in a few years back… what did it do to the environment? How did it impact nature and their habitats?
It also seperates enviroments shrinking the gene pool of animals,hence the word inbreading.
Two that pop into mind are habitat destruction and fragmentation. A highway can separate populations from one another causing individuals not to be able to breed making populations on either side of the freeway isolated. This can result in less genetic diversity and can weaken the species to the point of extinction. Other things highways contribute are air and noise pollution….not good for anyone!
Has a highway been built with federal funds anywhere near you in the past 35 years or so? if so, go to the library and get a copy of the EIS. Ask the reference librarian. That will tell you more than you ever wanted to know. I’m sort of proud about the first one I wrote. It reads almost like a textbook on the subject. Way too long, but we were still feeling our way along back in the 70s.
besides almost certain death for any creature including humans crossing them. there is petro chemical runoff just from the macadam itself, but then you have oil, gasoline runoff. complicated by rubber dust from wear and tear on tires which is also now a petro chemical. every time it rains this leeches into the surrounding area and also contaminates the water table and this is not to mention people throwing garbage out the windows of there cars.