Impacts of Neighborhood Parks on Community Transportation and Environment

The assessment of potential environmental effects under the actions of urban development is required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The community impact assessment (CIA) is consistent with NEPA requirements by assessing the environmental effects related to transportation activities, which is an important step of the entire decision-making process for the benefit of the community and its residents’ quality of life (QOL). With the sprawl of growing urban areas, it is a common practice to fully or partially re-function an aged forest for a new park and recreation with foreseen economic values, health and environmental benefits, and social importance. The known environmental benefits of parks and recreation include flooding prevention, nature and outdoor recreation of children and family, and so on. However, will those benefits still be there if a park was developed from an aged forest that already possesses sound environmental advantages? This paper compares the transportation and environmental factors of a park in city of Sugarland in state of Texas, USA. Based on the field observation, proper travel demand forecasting, and estimation of relevant air pollution, it is concluded that, though part of the vehicle exhaust emissions from the traffic to and from urban recreational park could be absorbed and buffered by the plantations such as trees of the park and its nearby ranches, considerable amount of greenhouse gas and air pollutants are emitted to the atmosphere, affecting nearby communities. Furthermore, the traffic of the collector roads around the park could generate huge amount of greenhouse gas and air pollution, which intensify the adverse impacts of QOL. It is recommended carefully assessing the impacts on community and QOL during the decision-making process of any new park development.