Assessment Of Soil Erosion Threats On Environmental Functions For Road Side Development The Case Of Addis Adama Express Way

A developed road side should provide operational, auxiliary, visual and environmental functions that arerndependent on the biophysical and spatial nature and status of the surrounding landscape. It is imperative thatrnmajor environmental components such as air, water, soil, fauna and flora be preserved and integrated within arnroad network to sustain ecological balance of the environment and service demand of the road. One of theserncomponents the soil in particular, is overlooked for its decisive role to ecologically integrate and sustain a roadrnnetwork for its designed years of service. Areas exposed to sever soil erosion leading to loss of water bodies andrnland degradation within the rights-of –way and a possible extension beyond for their critical and context sensitivernobjectivity, needs to be planned, designed, constructed and maintained for vegetation management andrnenvironmental preservations and remediation.rnIn this research, soil erosion is raised as one of the critical and context sensitive environmental problem resultingrnin loss of minor water bodies and land degradation within the study area threatening sustainability of the ExpressrnwayrnThe problem is identified and assessed using field inventory and subsequent spatial analysis of relevant roadrnside contextual features or topographic appearances’ by implementing RUSLE Model in Arc GIS. The contextualrnfeatures or parameters are rated or weighted to pin point the extent of soil erosion and propose remedialrnmeasures further.rnIn addition, the research outlines the need forrn Conventional definition and extent of road side developmentrn A conceptual frame work for natural resource preservation and landscape management of municipalrndevelopments, in particular the Express way, for context sensitive, critical planning and development.rn identification of road side functions and values, prioritizing relevant contextual data on natures’ inventoryrnwithin and beyond rights-of-ways of the Express wayrn Assessment models with analytical procedures to support integrated decision making and policy levelrnconsiderations of road side development.rnMoreover, Federal and Regional policies and guidelines should be declared officially and implemented whilernplanning, designing, constructing and maintaining non- traditional road side development.rnKEY WORDS: Context sensitive road side development, Environmental Function, Road side definition, Road sidernextent, , Soil erosion, RUSLE model

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