How Green Are Romania’s Motorways? An Analysis of the Impact Avoidance and Mitigation Measures Proposed for Motorway Projects in Romania

The development of infrastructure, particularly motorway infrastructure has been one of the main goals of Romania after 1990. However, the sustainable development of this type of infrastructure has only become an issue in the last few years. In this paper are presented the results of a literature review and analysis of the environmental impact mitigation measures which were proposed for motorway and express road projects in Romania within their Environmental Impact Assessments. The paper analyses whether appropriate measures have been proposed in the Environmental Impact Assessment Reports and how consistently they were proposed in different EIAs done in Romania. It analyses how much the measures proposed address impacts such as habitat loss, habitat alteration, fragmentation, species disturbance, and mortality So far, there is no known analysis on this topic Romania, although these types of projects have been implemented for many years. The hypothesis for this analysis is that the measures proposed for motorway and express road projects are not completely adequate for addressing identified impacts and that they are not in accordance with best practices. The results of the analysis indicate important gaps in the implementation of measures, particularly in regards to maintenance of ecological connectivity, as a response to potential fragmentation, and light pollution mitigation. It also highlights the lack of available data on the effectiveness of implemented mitigation measures, indicating the need for rigorous post-implementation monitoring and assessment of effectiveness. The paper proposes a more comprehensive and consistent approach to environmental impact mitigation in infrastructure projects, and for the public availability of post-implementation evaluation results.