Spatial analysis of environmental impacts of highway projects with special emphasis on mountainous area: an overview

Mountains are progressively being invaded by highways for development and defence purposes. Environmental impact assessment (EIA) of highway projects in mountainous areas creates a challenging environment for data collection and impact prediction. Geographic information systems (GIS)-based EIA, using appropriate spatial analysis methods can sufficiently reduce the challenges created by mountain environments. The present study includes a review of articles, including research papers, government reports and EIA reports cutting across the inter-disciplinary nature of the topic. The paper identifies the spatial analysis methods, models and salient features of conducting GIS-based EIA of highway projects in mountainous areas. It is observed that spatial analysis of impacts of highway projects on the environmental attributes, especially air, noise, water and socio-economy in mountainous areas are largely unexplored.