Plan Maps the Best (and Worst) of Future Road Construction

A new study published in the journal Nature maps out a plan for the development of roads around the world—where roads should be avoided due to their environmental costs, and where they can be built to maximize their potential benefit to humanity.

1 minute read

August 30, 2014, 7:00 AM PDT

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


According to a Science Daily report, "an ambitious study has created a 'global roadmap' for prioritising road building across the planet, to try to balance the competing demands of development and environmental protection."

The study describes the road map as a large-scale zoning plan, including two components: "an 'environmental-values' layer that estimates that natural importance of ecosystems and a 'road-benefits' layer that estimates the potential for increased agriculture production via new or improved roads."

Thursday, August 28, 2014 in Science Daily

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