Strategic highway improvements to minimize environmental impacts within the Canadian Rocky Mountain National Parks

2000 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 523-532 ◽  
Author(s):  
T M McGuire ◽  
J F Morrall
Keyword(s):  
National Parks ◽  
Rocky Mountain ◽  
Mitigation Measures ◽  
Vehicle Collisions ◽  
World Heritage Sites ◽  
Highway Engineering ◽  
Heritage Sites ◽  
Crossing Structures ◽  
Low Volume Roads ◽  
Environmental Mitigation

This paper describes how strategic highway engineering improvements have been developed or adopted to mitigate the unique environmental impact highways and roads have within Canadian Rocky Mountain national parks, which are also World Heritage Sites. Three levels of strategic highway development are presented. The first is the recapitalization of existing park roads. Examples are presented from several national parks where parkways and low-volume roads were reconstructed or repaired in ways to reduce terrain impacts. The second is the development of the passing lane system on the Trans-Canada Highway in the Rocky Mountain national parks to defer twinning. The third example is the twinning of 18.6 km of the Trans-Canada Highway. Twinning represents a logical next step following the passing lane phase. This paper describes how highway engineering improvements were developed to address and mitigate numerous potential twinning impacts identified during environmental assessment. Included within the environmental mitigation measures are fencing and animal crossing structures, addressing wildlife movement, biodiversity, and mortality as well as stream, terrain, and vegetation disturbance minimization techniques. Research has found that the mitigation measures have been effective in reducing wildlife and vehicle collisions by 97%.Key words: highway, sustainable, national park, environment.

Sustainable Highway Development in a National Park

2000 ◽  
Vol 1702 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-10
Author(s):  
J.F. Morrall ◽  
T.M. McGuire
Keyword(s):  
National Parks ◽  
Rocky Mountain ◽  
Mitigation Measures ◽  
Vehicle Collisions ◽  
World Heritage Sites ◽  
Highway Engineering ◽  
Heritage Sites ◽  
Crossing Structures ◽  
Low Volume Roads ◽  
Design Service Life

Sustainable highway-engineering improvements have been developed or adopted to mitigate the unique environmental impact that highways and roads have in Canadian Rocky Mountain National Parks, which are also World Heritage Sites. Three levels of sustainable highway development are presented. The first is the reconstruction or rehabilitation of park roads. Examples are presented from several national parks in which parkways and low-volume roads were reconstructed or repaired in ways that reduced impacts. The second is the development of the passing-lane system on the Trans-Canada Highway in the Rocky Mountain National Parks. The passing-lane system has extended the design service life of the two-lane highway by approximately 15 years while maintaining an acceptable level of service. The third example is the twinning of 18.6 km of the Trans-Canada Highway, which represents a logical next step in a program of sequential twinning following the passing-lane phase. Discussion includes the ways in which highway-engineering improvements were developed to address and mitigate numerous potential project impacts that were identified during environmental assessment. Included in the environmental mitigations were a series of measures such as fencing, animal-crossing structures, and underpasses to address wildlife movement, biodiversity, and mortality. Stream, terrain, and vegetation disturbance-minimization techniques also were applied. Research has found that the mitigation measures have been effective in reducing wildlife–vehicle collisions by as much as 97 percent.

Protecting the national parks and the world heritage sites in China: challenge and strategy

2004 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhang Baiping ◽  
Wu Hongzhi ◽  
Xiao Fei ◽  
Mo Shenguo
Keyword(s):  
National Parks ◽  
World Heritage ◽  
World Heritage Sites ◽  
Heritage Sites ◽  
The World

The Role of Heritage Impact Assessment in Safeguarding World Heritage Sites: Application Study on Historic Areas of Istanbul and Giza Pyramids

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 127-158
Author(s):  
Yildirim Yilmaz ◽  
Rehab El Gamil
Keyword(s):  
Impact Assessment ◽  
World Heritage ◽  
Mitigation Measures ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Application Study ◽  
World Heritage Sites ◽  
Heritage Sites ◽  
Historic Areas ◽  
The Right

This article aims to explore the role of heritage impact assessment (HIA) as a tool to safeguard world heritage sites from the adverse impacts of proposed projects as well as to recommend effective mitigation measures to create the balance between preservation and development. These mitigations will help the decision makers to take the right decision concerning the potential development. The methodology adopts a qualitative approach which is based on semi-structured interviews with site managers of two world heritage sites: historic areas of Istanbul in Turkey and the Giza pyramids in Egypt. Other interviews were conducted with some archaeologists and some governmental bodies in both countries to evaluate the level of awareness of HIA and assess the current and potential threats resulting from development proposals. Consequently, the article applies the HIA methodology to evaluate the potential impacts of proposed projects in both heritage sites. HIA can be an effective solution in order to eliminate the contradictions between the stakeholders investing in world heritage sites. The findings revealed that both world heritage sites are threatened by infrastructure and development projects. There is a lack of professionals who are able to conduct HIA methodology, thus Turkey and Egypt depend mainly on foreign experts to conduct it.

scholarly journals Qualitative Fire Vulnerability Assessments for Museums and Their Collections: A Case Study from Kosovo

Fire ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 11
Author(s):  
Charlotte Fafet ◽  
Erinë Mulolli Zajmi
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Fire Suppression ◽  
Mitigation Measures ◽  
Risk Awareness ◽  
Staff Members ◽  
Heritage Sites ◽  
Vulnerability Assessments ◽  
Suppression Systems ◽  
Simulation Exercises

Fires are among the most frequently recurring hazards affecting museums and cultural heritage sites. The fires of the National Museum of Brazil in 2018 and of Notre Dame de Paris in 2019 showed that the consequences of such events can be heavy and lead to irreversible heritage losses. In Kosovo, few studies were made about the risks that can affect cultural heritage sites. A project led by the NGO Kosovo Foundation for Cultural Heritage without Borders (CHwB Kosova) in 2018 explored the most prevalent risks for the cultural heritage sites of the country and highlighted fire as a predominant risk in Kosovo. In order to better understand it, vulnerability assessments were conducted in several museums in Kosovo. Data were collected through field visits in the different museums, in which interviews with staff members as well as observations were conducted. The aim of this paper is to present the main results of the fire vulnerability assessments conducted in Kosovo’s museums in 2018. An important aspect of this project is the approach to collect information in data-scarce environments. It is believed that the questionnaires used to lead interviews with museums’ staff members could help other practitioners to collect data in such contexts and evaluate more easily the risk of fire for the museums and their collections. In the context of Kosovo, one of the main findings is the identification and prioritisation of measures to ensure better protection of Kosovar museums. Structural mitigation measures such as alarm and fire suppression systems are not the only elements necessary to improve the resilience of Kosovar museums to fire. Indeed, the promotion of risk awareness, the training of staff members and the realisation of crisis simulation exercises are just as important in order to prevent and detect a fire, and above all, to respond quickly and accurately if a fire occurs.

scholarly journals A Study on the Development of Tourist Support System Using ICT and Psychological Effects

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (24) ◽  
pp. 8930
Author(s):  
Akira Sasaki ◽  
Fu Xiang ◽  
Rina Hayashi ◽  
Yuko Hiramatsu ◽  
Kazutaka Ueda ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Prospect Theory ◽  
Mobile Phones ◽  
Psychological Effects ◽  
Low Energy ◽  
Historic Buildings ◽  
Personal Interest ◽  
World Heritage Sites ◽  
Heritage Sites ◽  
Travel Experience ◽  
And Behavior

We have been studying a sightseeing support application using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons and mobile phones since 2014 to support sightseeing in Nikko, one of Japan’s World Heritage sites. Travelers can receive information relating to their position by using this application. We tried to use some psychological effects to increase travelers’ satisfaction when they receive such information. Moreover, we tried to emphasize travel memories of the place (scenery, culture, food, etc.) to encourage them to revisit or inspire their friends to visit it. Our tests prove the usefulness of our sightseeing support application for enhancing the travel experience. However, we had not yet developed a function to provide information that met the travelers’ intentions or needs. Moreover, it is hazardous to use a smartphone during walking, especially in an unfamiliar place. If a traveler uses a smartphone during walking, they might miss the beautiful scenery, historic buildings, and exotic atmosphere. We tried to adapt our sightseeing support application for use with a wearable device (smartwatch) to avoid using a smartphone during walking and introduced a prospect theory to evaluate information according to personal interest and behavior. Our experiments proved that our application provided the most appropriate sightseeing information to travelers and prevented danger during walking.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document