How can Landscape Protection Principles be Enhanced During the Planning Process of a Motorway – Assessment of the Hungarian Planning Practice and Sample Areas

Abstract

The main goal of this research is to assess the enforceability of landscape protection in road planning processes. This work includes the overall research summarizing the planning framework of road development in Hungary and landscape aspects in connection with road infrastructure planning. Moreover, this paper evaluates the enforcement of some landscape protection aspects in the planning processes based on three cases studies – two Hungarian and one Swedish – focusing on different aspects of landscape protection. Highlighting the main results of the research, the main messages show that the enforceability of landscape protection principles is impeded in the current planning practice, especially during the choice of road corridor which is dominated by technical and economic aspects. Landscape protection aspects can be integrated on a local level in the phases of environmental impact assessments, detailed design and construction plans. The amount of space available is a significant limiting factor to realise the landscape protective proposals as planting design. Even though preliminary estimation of the impact of road network developments on landscape is a common practice, the follow-up is missing, therefore the long-term impacts on land potential remain unknown.