Socio-economic impacts of roads, The road user costs are related to the road conditions. A road with high roughness and rutting causes bigger costs than an even road. To keep a road in good condition
will cause costs for the road manager like rehabilitation costs and costs for normal and routine maintenance.
Socio-economic impacts of roads, Rural roads provide basic inputs for all-round socio-economic development of the rural areas. The provision and construction of roads and road links brings multiple socio-economic benefits to the rural areas and results in forming a strong backbone for the agro-based economy. The importance of the rural roads has been emphasized in various plan documents. In the current Five Year Plan also it has been planned to provide all weather road connections to all the villages with a population of 1500 or above and 50 per cent of the villages having a population of between 1000-1500 persons.
Abstract
The construction of roads has become very popular in our age
due to heightened modernization, industrialization and the various benefits reaped from proper road systems.
However, construction processes massively contribute to environmental pollution and negatively impact socio-economic activities, necessitating this study.
The aim of this paper is to assess the impact of road construction
and socioeconomic and health impact using the Atonsu lake road construction as a case study.
The research indicated that road construction has adversely impacted the health of Atonsu lake road inhabitants but saw a decline in the number of cases
recorded at the hospital due to restrictions associated with COVID-19,
and its accompanying stigmatization, which prevented people from reporting to the hospital.
There was also a significant impact on the income levels of the inhabitants,
which has a significant correlation with the frequency of client patronage before and during the construction of the road.
Findings reinforce the need to greatly consider including effective dust abatement practices and a phase-by-phase implementation of road construction projects to reduce the negative impacts associated with the process.