Armanshahr Architecture & Urban Development

Armanshahr Architecture & Urban Development

Regional Transport Development and Urban Economic Isolation; Analysis of Paradoxical Consequences in Qazvin- Rasht Highway Construction: Loshan City, Iran

Authors
Reza Kheyroddin 1
Mehdi Razpour 2
1 Assistant Professor of Urban and Regional Planning, Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning, Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran.
2 M.A. Student of Urban & Regional Planning, Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning, Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran.
Abstract
   Contrary to the past approaches, as the transportation speed and the number of vehicles have increased, nowadays, the major roads do not go through the cities and are laid out on the brink with a particular distance instead and linked with the city’s network through a set of connecting roads instead. Construction of these connecting roads can have diverse effects on economic, social and cultural states of cities. The residents of Loshan have encountered numerous problems since the city was downgraded after the construction of Qazvin-Rasht highway in 2009 which has vastly decreased the flow of passing regional traffic through the city. Durability, survival, continuation, development, stable income and in general, the city’s economy were dependent on the passengers who were crossing the city. As a result, many of existing traveler-service related employment opportunities are threatened and this sector has practically lost its economic viability. In this paper, the effects of the construction of Qazvin-Rasht highway on residents of Loshan have been assessed. In doing so, we have referred to the results of field studies and traffic data of Iran’s Road Maintenance and Transportation Organization. In the end, by having accepted the necessity of constructing the highway outside the city, a few suggestions about compensating the anti-development effects of the highway and restoring the city’s former livelihood have been put forward.
Keywords
transportation system
Regional Development
Economic Livelihood
City of Loshan
Vehicle Traffic

  • REFERENCES

    • Afghanistan Ministry of Energy & Water. (2009). Shahtoot Storage dam: Sociological Impact Assessment Report. [Unpublished]: Alikhah, F.
    • Bridget, J. (2010). Social Impact Assessment, A two-day short course endorsed by the International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA).
    • Construction & Development of Transportation Infrastructure Co. (2009). The Project Catalog of The Qazvin-Rasht Highway construction.
    • Howe, J. & Richards, P. (1993). Rural Roads and Poverty Alleviation (Mir, S. J., Motevaseli, M. R., Trans.). Shiraz: Razmara (Original work published September 1984).
    • Iran Road Maintenance and Transportation Organization. (2011). [GIS Data Center of the Organization].
    • Iran Road Maintenance and Transportation Organization. (2011). Statistical volume of Qazvin-Rasht passing Traffic.
    • Iran Static Center. (2006). Detailed Result of Population Census.
    • Papoli yazdi, M. h., & Ebrahimi, M. A. (2002). Rural Development Theory. tehran: samt.
    • Transportation Research Institute of Ministry of Road and Transportation. (2005). Technical, economic, social and environmental impact assessment of road and railway. implementation by Tarbiat Modarres University. Tehran: F. Zahed.
    • U.S. Department of Transportation. (1996). Federal Highway administration. Washington, D.C.
    • Vanclay, F. (2010). Engaging Communities with Social Impact Assessment: SIA as a Social Assurance Process. [Electronic Version]. Retrieved April 5, 2010.
    • In: http://www.rmto.ir/NewTTO/e-archive/e-archivef/
    • default.asp?ParentID=72368
    • In: http://www.amar.org.ir/Default.aspx?tabid=552
    • In: http://www.engagingcommunities2005.org/abstracts/ Vanclay-Frank-final.pdf

    BIBLIOGRAPHY

    • Beizaee, A. (2003). Practical Principles of Transportation Economy. Tehran: Samt.
    • Chandra, A. & Thompson, E. (2000, July). Does Public Infrastructure Affect Economic Activity: Evidence from the rural interstate highway system. Regional Science and Urban Economics, 30(4), 457-490.
    • Funderburg, R. G., Nixon, H., Boarnet, M. G. & Ferguson, G. (2010, February). New Highways and Land Use Change: Results from a quasi-experimental research design. Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice. 44(2), 76-98.
    • James, K. L. & Karis, L. D. (2008, October). Assessing the growth-inducing impact of the Appalachian Development Highway System in southern Ohio: Did policy promote change, Land Use Policy, 25(4), 523-532.
    • Kanaroglou, P. S., Anderson, W. P., & Kazakov, A. (1998, September). Economic impacts of highway infrastructure improvements Part 1. Conceptual framework. Journal of Transport Geography, 6(3), 203-210.
    • Khalili, M. (2001). Optimum Location bypass. Ph.D thesis, Iran University of Science and Technology.
    • Linneker, B. & Spence, N. (1996). Road Transport Infrastructure and Regional Economic Development. Journal of Transport Geography, 4(2), 77-92.
    • Liu, S. L., Cui, B. S., Dong, S. K., Yang, Z. F., Yang, M. & Holt, K. (2008, September). Evaluating the Influence of Road Networks on Landscape and Regional Ecological Risk—A case study in Lancang River Valley of Southwest China. Ecological Engineering. 34(2), 91-99.
    • Miller, J. S., Hoel, L. A. & Ellington, D. B. (2009, September). Can Highway Investment Policies Influence Regional Growth. Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, 43(3), 165-176.
    • Rephann, T. & Isserman, A. (1994, December). New Highways as Economic Development Tools: An evaluation using quasi-experimental matching methods. Regional Science and Urban Economics, 24(6), 723-751.
    • Taylor, B. R. & Roff. J. C. (1986). Long-term Effects of Highway Construction on the Ecology of a Southern Ontario stream. Environmental Pollution Series A, Ecological and Biological, 40(4), 317-344.
Armanshahr Architecture & Urban Development
Volume 6, Issue 10
Summer 2013
Pages 211-224

  • Receive Date 13 May 2013
  • Revise Date 31 July 2013
  • Accept Date 17 August 2013