Transportation activities support increasing mobility demands for passengers and freight but at the cost of adverse environmental effects. The main adverse effects of transportation are:
Adverse Effects
(i) Air pollution:
Emissions of pollutants like CO2, NOx, particulate matter etc. from exhaust of vehicles are a major cause of air pollution.
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(ii) Water Pollution:
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Spillage during transportation of hazardous substances causes water pollution. Marine oil spills can devastate marine and coastal environments.
(iii) Biodiversity Loss:
Habitat fragmentation by roads or railway tracks leads to biodiversity loss. Transport allows urban expansion and damages natural habitats.
(iv) Biosecurity Risks:
International transportation of goods can allow new organisms to enter a region and increase risk for diseases.
(v) Noise:
The noise generated by vehicles can interfere with daily activities such as communicating or sleeping. It thus affects health of people. Transportation sector adversely affects our environment in all the stages of its operation. These are summarized below.
(i) Production:
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Production of construction materials, vehicles and fuels badly affect our environment.
(ii) Infrastructure creation:
Development of highways, railroads, airports, bicycle and pedestrian facilities cause habitat fragmentation and result in biodiversity loss.
(iii) Disposal:
Disposal of vehicles after their service life, disposal of spilled oil, disposal of parts of vehicles or any other disposal is a biggest challenge as far as our environment is concerned.
(iv) Operation
Running of vehicles mean contribution to air, water or noise pollution.