TITLE:
Environmental Mitigation Measures Critical during Construction and Operational Stages of Road Network in Uyo
AUTHORS:
J. U. H. Akpabio, I. D. Edem
KEYWORDS:
Impacts, Pollution, Environment, Farmland and Soil Properties
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Access Library Journal,
Vol.4 No.4,
April
28,
2017
ABSTRACT: Since road transport is a dominant necessity for the
overall economic development of any nation, the Environmental Impact Assessment
(EIA) has been conducted on the soil environmental component to evaluate the
effect of the activities of road construction on the project area. The main
purpose was to identify any potential significant environmental effects due to
the proposed project and proffer mitigation/ameliorative measures. The
electrical conductivity value of this soil is non saline. These values are
within the tolerance levels for plant growth. The exchangeable cations (bases)
(Ca, Mg, Na and K) of the soils of the study area are high and the exchange
complex is dominated by Ca (surface soils, 3.54 cmol·kg﹣1; subsoils,
3.44 cmol·kg﹣1 soil), followed by Mg (surface
soils, 1.52 cmol·kg﹣1; subsoils, 2.55 cmol·kg﹣1), K
(surface soils 0.12 cmol·kg﹣1;
subsoils, 0.11 cmol·kg﹣1) and Na (surface soils, 0.06 cmol·kg﹣1;
subsoils, 0.16 cmol·kg﹣1). The percent saturation of basic cations
on the sorption sites
of the soil micelles which is forced into soil solution where they are
assimilated is above 70%. The only notable challenge in this soil area is that potassium availability to
plant has been shown to be limited by excessive quantities of exchangeable
calcium. The beneficial impact from activities of road construction project is mostly socio-economical. The
non-beneficial
impacts as it
pertains to soil resources include: land uptake and destruction of farmlands, land traffic
generation, waste generation, soil pollution and runoff during construction.