ABSTRACT
China's comprehensive three-dimensional national transport network planning has proposed large-scale road network construction. Within the context of resource and environmental management system reforms, new requirements are proposed for environmental impact assessments (EIAs) for road network planning. This paper systematically analyzes the current technical methods and new policy directions of EIAs for highway network planning. Taking the highway network of Henan Province as an example, the effects of the network on ecologically sensitive targets were assessed using Geographic Information System (GIS) batch processing technology. A scenario analysis was used to evaluate traffic carbon emissions. Policy tool methods are introduced to evaluate the optimization adjustments and implementation suggestions for highway planning. The resulting technical system and methods, scheme optimization adjustments, and implementation suggestions are discussed. The study enriches the technical methods for ecological analysis in planning EIAs, improves analysis efficiency, and summarizes the new orientation of planning EIAs and their prospects in highway network planning in China.
