Nova Scotia Road Index

(04)

Overview

A new Python-based road index tool was developed to dynamically assess the impacts of highways, roadways, and trails on the surrounding environment based on road density and proximity. The code for this project is available on my GitHub.

Year

2025

Industry

Transportation

Challenge

There are about 120,000 km of roads in Nova Scotia, from major divided highways to undeveloped tracks and trails. Light, noise, and chemical pollution from road construction and use have a measured impact on the surrounding area, particularly the living conditions of nearby wildlife. The impact of these roads is distributed unequally based on the type of road, making it difficult to quantify the overall impact of a road network on the environment. The Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources sought an advanced tool that could take a dynamic measure of road impacts based on the road class.

(1) Road influence of all highways, roads, and trails in Nova Scotia

(2) Road index calculations for a hypothetical habitat range for a species of turtles

Impact

I developed a Python-based tool that segments roads based on the road type, then calculates a dynamic measure of road influence based on density and proximity. Larger roads, such as highways, conferred a higher road influence. I also developed a specialized tool which can be used to assess the impact of roads on several animal species at once. I delivered a technical report, currently in publication, alongside multiple maps of provincial and local road impacts. The tool is currently in use at the Department of Natural Resources, where staff are experimenting with the ability to test species-specific road impacts.

Previous — PEI Connectivity

Previous — PEI Connectivity

Previous — PEI Connectivity

Previous — PEI Connectivity

Next — Reference Atlas

Next — Reference Atlas

Next — Reference Atlas

Next — Reference Atlas