ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT OF HIGHWAY SCHEMES - A REVIEW OF DMRB VOLUME-11

Environmental impact assessment (EIA) is a method of evaluating the li kely effects a development, such as a major highway or infrastructure project, will have on the environment, Formal environmental assessment allows for the importance of environmental effects, and the scope for mitigating against them, to be considered by the relevant decision-ma king authority before development consent is given, This paper investi gates present procedures within the UK with specific regard to highway s, It also presents the results of a questionnaire that aimed to revie w attitudes, principally amongst construction professionals, towards t he assessment of the environmental impact of highways, Through the lit erature review and the questionnaire, it was apparent that there are m any occasions when the EIA process fails, This paper includes many of the suggestions and recommendations made by people who have used Volum e 11 of the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges (DMRB), The majority b elieve that Volume 11 is an improvement to the old Manual for Environm ental Appraisal (MEA), but it is obvious that changes are required if the EIA process is to become more effective.