Mapping & Monitoring
Roads and Transportation Dominate Land Use Change
Probably the largest single influence on land use over the last 50 years in Southeastern Massachusetts has been the expansion of high volume expressways that allowed people to live further from their jobs and increased the ease of access to vacation spots and second homes. The number and quality of limited
Southeastern Massachusetts Highways
Access roads that were opened in the 1950s in Massachusetts, paralleled in other parts of the country, helped to begin an explosion of vehicular traffic in the region. Roads are, of course, the largest component of the area of impervious surfaces, and have effects upon habitats and wild life that include reducing water quality, habitat fragmentation, serve as barriers to species movement, directly cause habitat loss, cause road kills and road noise and road avoidance by wildlife. Nitrogen deposition from vehicles is significant along roadsides and increases with traffic volume.
