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The project was screened as A/O, requiring the preparation of an Environmental Impact Assessment. The scoping meeting, which was held in November 1997, resulted in the need to address the following environmental issues: (i) tree cutting/replanting; (ii) noise; (iii) potential lowering of the groundwater table in the vicinity of the botanic garden; (iv) mobility of the labour force in the city of Krakow; (v) influence on tourism; (vi) severance; (vii) accessibility of the tram system; (viii) balance in urban planning (encouraging vs. discouraging urban growth); and (ix) aesthetics of the proposed development.
The EIA was completed in March 1998. Its major findings are as follows:
Construction impact
The construction year has been assumed, for purposes of the environmental assessment, as l999 and a typical operational year taken as 2005. The phasing of construction has not yet been finally decided, nor has the construction process been defined in detail. (These matters could cause subsequent adjustment to the environmental assessment.)
There are no existing nor baseline environmental circumstances which will be seriously and adversely altered by the construction of the proposed tram. The alignment of the tram route through the Historic Zone (a conservation area), south of the River Visla, is an intensification of an existing activity, and construction will be limited in duration and also in physical extent. For these reasons the constructional impact here is not a significant one, but is nevertheless considered to be of some importance.
Lengths of existing track used by the new Fast Tram will need to be renewed, and excavations of similar proportions (approximately 1 metre deep) will be necessary for new sections of the route. Such construction activity will give rise to the need to transport and dispose of spoil, a process which needs to be coordinated with the importing of new material and regulated to avoid unnecessary disturbance and traffic delay.
Reports of past construction activity at a hotel beside the route seriously affecting the underground water levels beneath the nearby Botanic Gardens were not confirmed by research into the matter. No hydrological evidence was revealed which would support a notion that construction of the proposed tram route in this vicinity would give rise to effects of such a kind.
Subject to the results of the detailed design of the proposed system, only one building (a storage shed) will need to be demolished in order to construct the tram route, and the land required outside the confines of the existing transport corridors is minimal, and acceptable in terms of land use consequences. As a result of construction, there will be the loss of some trees and shrub/hedgerow material along the route. The exact location and number of these trees and shrubs cannot be confirmed until the detailed design stage when a full tree survey will be available to compare with the finalised position of the route. However, it is possible on the information currently available to conclude that the final total tree loss is unlikely to be of a significant level. The poplars that are likely to be affected are at the end of their useful lives, and the most significant tree loss could be a row of chestnut trees in Kotlarska.
Operational impact
The operational impact of the proposed tram system is more limited and where adverse is not of a kind, distribution nor intensity which would warrant the description 'significant'. In terms of air quality, there will be a benefit from the inception of the Fast Tram. Due to a shift in transport mode, there will be important reductions in emissions of CO2 at peak hours (of between 1 per cent and 2 per cent at city-wide scale). This benefit will be slightly offset by additional emissions caused by the generation of the electricity required to run the Fast Tram.
For a receptor located 15 metres from the new tracks, predicted noise levels as a result of the operation of the trams show small and insignificant increases of under 1dB LAcq 1 hour for all sectors of the route. Vibration from the existing trams is already perceptible along many sectors of the route. This may also possibly be the case for receptors within 5 to 10 metres of new sections of track, but conditions where this may happen occur at only four places along the route, and the frequencies which will be experienced are well below the level generally considered to constitute annoyance.
Baseline conditions in Kortlaska may justify consideration of measures such as noise barriers to protect the adjacent dwellings from noise even though the predicted increases in noise level attributable to the tram are relatively small. The proposed new road to be constructed would, however, create noise levels which would certainly justify noise protection measures for the dwellings. Sound insulation of adjacent dwellings, possibly combined with assisted ventilation measures, could be associated with the installation of the tram, if the early construction of the new road is confirmed by the city authorities.
In no sector of the route will the installation of the new tram have the effect of causing severance between a community facility and the population catchment area which relies on it.
If a 'do-nothing' option is compared, in terms of environmental impact, with the two alternative options considered at the outset of the process (Options 'A' and 'B') none of these options have a prevailing 'adverse' environmental impact which would rule it out of consideration on that ground alone. However, with the 'do nothing' option the predicted future traffic and air quality conditions, and to a lesser degree the future noise position, would be materially worse than in the case of the two 'with tram' options. Option 'B', which is closest to the city centre, is materially worse than either of the other options in terms of impact upon the Historic Zone.
Mitigation measures
Mitigation measures will be designed to assist in eliminating or materially reducing any adverse environmental impact from the scheme. Despite the fact that the adverse environmental impact arising from the Fast Tram has not been identified as 'significant', a number of mitigation measures have been considered as necessary to ensure the best possible environmental conditions are realised.
These measures are:
- with respect to construction noise and disturbance, the preparation of a construction code of practice to be a part of the tender documentation;
- in the event of the confirmation of the early construction of the new road at Kortlaska, the provision of sound insulation and appropriate measures to assist ventilation in the adjacent dwellings on this street;
- vibration insulation for four key sectors of track, including along Kortlaska;
- the development of an air quality protection plan, which is designed to minimise emissions to air from construction plant, and will also form part of the tender documentation;
- every effort needs to be made in the detailed design stage of the project to retain healthy, existing vegetation. Where removal of a tree or significant shrub is unavoidable, it is to be replaced with extra-heavy standard plant material of the same species and located in a new position nearby;
- severed footpaths are to be reconstructed, or reprovisioned where necessary;
- although the townscape quality of the part of the Historic Zone through which the new line will pass is presently not of an exceptional, or even high, order it is proposed that a civic design study of the new tram tracks and associated floorscape, stops, shelters, signage and overhead equipment is undertaken to ensure that it is of the highest quality and in a form that will not prejudice any future townscape upgrading of the surroundings.
Conclusions and recommendations
Neither in the construction phase, nor in operational terms, does Fast Tram Phase 1 give rise to an adverse environmental impact which is 'significant' i.e. of a kind which either raises questions about the appropriateness of implementing that option, threatens an area of great sensitivity, or requires substantial mitigation to render it acceptable.
In addition to the attribute of accessibility conferred by the scheme, the most important environmental benefit of the proposed Fast Tram Phase 1 is a I per cent to 2 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions to air.
It follows that in considering whether to implement the scheme, decision-makers should be aware that the adverse environmental impact of the scheme consists effectively of second-order problems, and there is an overall benefit in air quality terms.
The wider environmental objectives of the city can be served by undertaking certain mitigation measures (which are summarised above). It is recommended that these are adopted as an intrinsic part of the overall proposals.
There is an Environmental Impact Assesment available for this project.
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