China - Third National Highway Project (Hubei) : environmental action plans and impact assessments (Vol. 3 of 6)

t- RECEIVED 960CT 17 PH 4:41E National Road Project III in Hubei Province Statement of Environmental Impact Assessment Research Institute of Highways, Ministry of Communications September 1996  0 4 'i I  Compiler Research Institute of Highway (RIOH) Director of RIOH if Liu Kuixiang Chief Engineer of RIOH Zhao Fengjuan Head of Environment Protection Division Piao Zhongxuan Chief Engineer of the Division Liu Shutao Technique Examiner Yang Xianhe Project Team Leader VWan Quanxi ' , ' " Member of Project Team : Song Guozhen, Li Guoxiang, Wan Quanxi, Yang Manhong, Piao Zhongxuan, Member of Project Team from Hubei Province Hubei Provincial Communications Planning and Design Institute Chen Jianyang, Peng Jinzhong, Zhou Anjun Source of Monitor Data Hubei Xiaogan Environmental Monitor Station List of Report Written by Examined by Final Report Wan Quanxi Yang Xianhe Social Environmental Impact Song Guozhen Piao Zhongxuan Ecological and Water Environment Impact VYang Manhong ' 4 72 Liu Shutao Air Environment impact t-Li Guoxiang j Li Xiyun Noise Environment Impact Wan Quanxi Ye Huihai  f  Contents CHAPTER 1 GENERAL INTRODUCTION 1 1. Background 1 2. Basic Materials and Documents for the EIA Report 1 3. Assessment Scope 2 4. Environmental Control and Protection Target 2 5. Assessment Method 3 6. Assessment Procedures 3 7. Brief Introduction to the Undertaker of the EIA Report 5 CHAPTER 2 ENGINEERING BRIEF 6 1. Construction Scale 6 2. Classification of the EIA 6 3. Geographical Position 7 4. Schedule of Construction 7 5. Traffic forecast 7 CHAPTER 3 CURRENT ENVIRONMENT CONDITION AND ASSESSMENT 8 1. Terrain and Landforms 8 2. Meteorology and Hydrology 8 3. Current Condition and Assessment of Ecology Environment 9 4. Current Status and Assessment of Acoustic Environment 14 5. Current Status and Assessment of Air Environment 1 6 6. Current Status and Assessment of Water Environment 22 7. Administrative Division and Population Distribution 24 8. Socio-economic Index 24 9. Current Status of Living Standard 25 10. Assessment Standard 27 CHAPTER 4 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT FORECAST AND PROTECTION MEASURES 29 1. Impact analysis on Agricultural Production 29 2. Impact analysis of Pavement Runoff on Subgrade and Farmland 30 3. Impact Analysis of Soil Erosion 30 4. Impact Analysis on Farmland Vegetation by Road Construction 32 5. Forecast of Lead Emission Impact on Farmland Soil and Crops 32 6. Impact Analysis on Water Environment 34 7. Forecast and Assessment of Acoustic Impact 36 8. Forecast and Assessment of Air Environment Impact 46 9. Social Environment Impact Assessment 61 10. Proposals and Measures for Environment Protection 67  CHAPTER 5 ANALYSIS OF THE ALTERNATIVES 71 1. Brief Introduction to the Alternatives 71 2. Comparisons in Terms of Environmental Benefit 74 3. Comprehensive Assessment and Recommendation 80 CHAPTER 6 BRIEF COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS 81 1. Social Benefit 81 2. Economic Benefit 82 3. Investment Estimation of Environment Protection Measures 83 CHAPTER 7 ENVIRONMENT MANAGEMENT AND MONITOR PROGRAM 85 1. Organization and Personnel Requirements 85 2. Environmental Monitor Program 86 CHAPTER 8 PUBLIC PARTICIPATION 93 CHAPTER 9 CONCLUSIONS 96 1. Conclusions of EIA 96 2. Measures and Suggestions 98  List of tables Table 2-1 Traffic forecast for the proposed road (unit: converted PCU/day) Table 3-1 Current condition of land use along the proposed road Table 3-2 The agricultural soil survey items, analysis method and the results Table 3-3 Statistical analysis results of background Pb content in the soil (Unit: mg/kg) Table 3-4 Classification of Pb pollution in the soil Table 3-5 Current status of Pb content in the soil of the area Table 3-6 Survey results of current status at typical acoustic sensitive pints Table 3-7 Air pollution factors for the city of Dawu county in 1993 Table 3-8 Air pollution factors for the urban area of Xiaogan in 1993 Table 3-9 Air pollution factors the Caidian region (Hanyang county) in 1993 Table 3-10 Prevailing wind direction and average wind speed in each area Table 3-11 Occurrence frequency of air stability (Unit: %) Table 3-1 la Occurrence frequency of air stability for each season along the area Table 3-12 Summary of the current status survey of air environment quality Table 3-13 Analysis method for air environment survey Table 3-14 Measured results of CO concentration in the air (Unit: mg/Nm3) Table 3-15 Measured results of NOx concentration in the air (Unit: mg/Nm3) Table 3-16 Measured results of TSP concentration in the air (Unit: mg/Nm3) Table 3-17 Disposition of the water quality survey and monitoring section Table 3-18 Summary of the measured items and the analysis methods Table 3-19 Results of current surface water quality survey (Unit: mg/L, except for PH) Table 3-20 Water quality assessment standards and the parameters Table 3-21 The calculated standard index for PH Table 3-22 Main Socio-economic indexes of Hubei province & the areas directly affected by the proposed road project in 1992 Table 3-23 Socio-economic indexes for Wuhan and Xiaogan (taking the provincial average as 100, in 1992) Table 3-24 Urban Area Ambient Noise Standard (GB3096-93) Table 3-25 Air Quality Standard (GB3095-82) Table 3-26 Environmental Water Quality Standard (GB3095-82) Table 4-I Forecast of accumulated lead in soil (Unit: mg/kg) Table 4-2 Calculated soil environmental Pb capacity for each road section (g/mu) Table 4-3 Forecast of lead pollution index (P) Table 4-3-1 Pollutant concentration in pavement run-off (Unit: mg/kg) Table 4-3-2 Water pollutant maximum allowable emission concentration (Unit: mg/kg) Table 44 Measured noise level for road construction machines Table 4-5 Hygiene standard of industrial and enterprise noise  Table 4-6 Classification of vehicles Table 4-7 Surface condition related constant K, Table 4-8 Headway related constant K Table 4-8 Headway related constant K Table 4-9 Traffic noise correction (ALpv) caused by road pavement Table 4-10 Noise forecast for different sections in the 3 operation periods Table 4-11 Noise sensitive spots along the assessed road area Table 4-12 Noise levels at the sensitive spots along the road section Unit: dB(A) Table 4-13 Noise level forecast at the sensitive spots along the road area Unit: dB(A) Table 4-14 TSP survey results under different pollution modes Table 4-15 Forecasted traffic volume proportions shared by the 3 vehicle types (%) Table 4-16 Traffic volume forecast for each road section Table 4-17 The emission intensities of CO and NOx by road section Unit: mg/m - s Table 4-18 Forecast of CO emission dispersion in year of 2000 over the road area (type D stability) Unit: mg/rn3 Table 4-19 Forecast of NOx emission dispersion in year of 2000 over the road area (type D stability) Unit: mg/rn3 Table 4-20 Forecast of CO emission dispersion in year of 2010 over the road area (type D stability) Unit: mg/m3 Table 4-21 Forecast of NOx emission dispersion in year of 2010 over the road area (type D stability) Unit: mg/m3 Table 4-22 Forecast of CO emission dispersion in year of 2020 over the road area (type D stability) Unit: mg/rn3 Table 4-23 Forecast of NOx emission dispersion in year of 2020 over the road area (type D stability) Unit: mg/m3 Table 4-24 Superposition of the pollutant CO concentration for major sensitive spots Unit: mg/m3 Table 4-25 Superposition of the pollutant NOx concentration for major sensitive spots Unit: mg/m3 Table 4-26 Superposition of the pollutant NOx concentration for major sensitive spots Unit: mg/m3 Table 4-27 Socio-economic indexes current status and forecast for Wuhan and Xiaogan Table 5-1 Comparison of altemative schemes Table 5-2 Comparison of altemative schemes Table 5-3 Comparison of alternative schemes Table 6-1 Economic benefits from the road project Table 6-2 Toll rate standard for different vehicles Unit: CNY/vehicle km Table 6-3 Road engineering economic sensitive analysis Table 6-4 Lump-sum investment estimation for environmental protection measures  Table 7-1 Environmental supervision plan Table 7-2 Project environmental management program Table 7-3 Air Environmental Monitor Plan Table 7-4 Ambient Noise Monitor Plan Table 7-5 Water quality monitor plan Table 8-1 Inquiry form for sample investigation Table 8-2 Summary of social survey for the proposed road List of Figures Fig. 1 EIA Technique Procedure Fig. 2 Monitoring report system Attached Fig. I General alignment of the proposed road and disposition of the monitoring spot  I  Abbreviations ADB Asian Development Bank EAP Environmental Action Plan EIA Environmental Impact Assessment EPB Environmental Protection Bureau EPD Environmental Protection Division EPO Environmental Protection Office HPCPDI Hubei Provincial Communications Planning and Design Institute HPEPB Hubei Provincial Environmental Protection Bureau HPHHMB Hubei Provincial High-grade Highway Management Bureau MOC Ministry of Communications NEPA National Environmental Protection Agency PCRB Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau RIOH Research Institute of Highway  0  CHAPTER 1 GENERAL INTRODUCTION 1. Background National road project III in Hubei province is part of the "Two Longitudinal and Two Lateral" national trunk roads, which shall be built by the year of 2000 planned by the State Council. Hubei Provincial Communications Department commissioned the desk study on Hubei section of Beijing-Zhuhai national trunk road in December 1992. Therefore, in November 1993 Hubei Provincial Communications Planning and Design Institute (HPCPDI) completed the pre-feasibility study report of Hubei section of Beijing-Zhuhai national trunk road. In December 1993, Hubei Provincial Planning Commission and Hubei Provincial Communications Department submitted the proposal of the project to the State Planning Commission. In September 1995, additional report concerning with the two sections of the Shanhai-Chengdu national trunk road was submitted. Entrusted by Hubei Provincial High-grade Highway Management Bureau (HPHHMB) on March 8,1994, the HPCPDI asked the Research Institute of Highway (RIOH) of the Ministry of Communications (MOC) to undertake the environmental assessment study for this project on March 10, 1994. In March 1994, with the assistance from HPCPDI and Wuhan Municipal Highway Division, the engineers from RIOH conducted survey and investigation on the whole road section and solicit opinions from the commission unit, which forms the basis of the terms of reference for environmental impact assessment for this project. On October 7, 1994, the National Environmental Protection Agency (NEPA) gave an official reply on the Terms of Reference for Environmental Impact Assessment for Jiuliguan-Junshan Motorway, the Northem Section of Beijing-Zhuhai national trunk road in Hubei province after which the RIOH started the EIA work. Through analysis and assessment of the environmental impact of this engineering construction project, it is expected to achieve the following results: to approve the rationality of the route selection plan in terms of the environment protection; to propose reasonable measures for environmental protection and to feed back to the engineering design and construction in order to provide a scientific basis for optimization of engineering design; to provide scientific and technical consultant service for the environmental protection and management. 2. Basic Materials and Documents for the EIA Report (1) "Measures Concerning with the Environmental Protection and Management of Capital Construction Project" issued by NEPA (2) "Measures Concerning with the Environmental Protection and Management for Communications Construction Project" issued by the Ministry of Communications I  (3) "Notice to Strengthen the Environmental Impact Assessment and Management of Construction Project Financed by Loan from International Financial Organizations" jointly issued by NEPA, State Planning Commission, the Ministry of Finance and People's Bank of China in 1993; (4) Proxy Statement Concerning with EIA Work for the Northern Section of Beijing-Zhuhai National Trunk Road in Hubei Province Written by HPHHMB and HPCPDI; (5) "Pre-feasibility Study Report on the Project of Northern Section of Beijing- Zhuhai National Trunk Road in Hubei Province", and the supplementary report; (6) "Proposals on the Project of Northern Section of Beijing-Zhuhai National Trunk Road in Hubei Province" and the supplementary report submitted to the State Planning Commission by Hubei Provincial Planning Commission and Hubei Provincial Communications Department; (7) "A Letter in Reply Concerned with the Comment on the Terms of Reference for Environmental Impact Assessment for Jiuliguan-Junshan Motorway, the Northern Section of Beijing-Zhuhai national trunk road in Hubei province", issued by NEPA; (8) "Feasibility Study Report on the Project of Northern Section of Beijing- Zhuhai National Trunk Road in Hubei Province"; (9) Comments on the Assessment Standard for this project issued by the Hubei Provincial Environmental Protection Bureau (HPEPB); (10) "Specifications for Highway Construction Environmental Impact Assessment (Draft)"; (I1) "Monitor and Measurement Report on the Environmental Quality Condition of the Northern Section of Beijing-Zhuhai National Trunk Road in Hubei Province", made by Xiaogan Environmental Monitor Station of Hubei Province. 3. Assessment Scope The assessment scope of the project is within the area of 200 meters from both sides along the central line of the proposed road. The assessment scope of the social economic development, living standard, ecology environment and the pollutant source shall be in a properly extended areas, up to 500 meters. 4. Environmental Control and Protection Target 4.1 Protection of ecological environment along the road area Through assessment of such environmental impact as soil erosion, vegetation destruction, flying dust caused by earth cutting, recommendations optimized road design; reasonable engineering construction and land occupation, feasible prevention and mitigation measures as well as vegetation recovery and remedy measures shall be proposed to materialize the target. 4.2 Protection of local residents' health and sustain normal everyday life The target shall be realized through management and control of the traffic noise and vehicle emissions, well arranged resettlement and relocation compensation, 2  5. Assessment Method Road construction project is a kind of linear development project. On-site investigation shows that the environmental conditions of most road sections along the proposed route are similar, except for a few areas being more environmentally sensitive. Therefore, the EIA method adopted is based on typical sensitive points representing one road section, combining points with lines to get the whole picture of the assessment area. According to the forecast of the environmental impact on the sensitive points or sections, correspondent mitigation measures are proposed to control the negative impact to the minimum possible. Theoretical models shall be used to calculate the traffic noise, air pollution, vibration impact in the assessment. Socio-economic and aquatic ecological assessment shall be made mainly through investigations and analyses. 6. Assessment Procedures Figure 1 shows the assessment procedures. 3  -- Se7ot I ask ||o-iesry||determine environment protection target| | analysis of impact factors Impact caused by land occupation Impact during construction period Impact during operation period * reduce farmland - soil erosion due to filling/cutting * traffic noise and vibration population migration construction accident air pollution land price fluctuation human health & disease infection pavement runoff change of hydrologic condition wastes and dust pollution * traffic accident destroy original natural environment obstruct existing traffic dangerous goods detrimental to wild animals & plants construction noise and vibration flood prevention * newly added artificial landscape hazardous materials partition * destroy original farm environment * shipping safety/order change of living standard * reduce soil fertility flood prevention shipping safety | compi le terms of reference of EIA| .| curentcondition investigation and assessment | I socio-economic ecology environment air environment acoustic environment - urban planning - type, quantity, activity law, - meteorological features -current quality - area function distribution living environment, wild animal - current air quality -existing noise sources - human health protection classification, - existing pollutant distribution and - resettlement - farm land quality, sources classification - tourist resource - vegetation coverage status, -distribution and -noise sensitive point - living standard - soil erosion, classification of air distribution and - land use pollution sensitive classification - industry structure point alternatives F impact fcrecst | forecast model | natural environment social economy - air - population distribution - noise - land use - eco-system - living standard - infrastructure facility - resettlement - tourist lenvironment standard environmental impact assessment protection & mitigation measures and cost-benefit analysis EIA report action plan Fig. 1 EIA Technique Procedure 4  7. Brief Introduction to the Undertaker of the EIA Report The Research Institute of Highway of the Ministry of Communications is the undertaker of the EIA work. The RIOH founded in 1956, is the largest comprehensive science and technology research center in road and road transport field in China directly under the Ministry of Communications, holding first class certificate for EIA issued by NEPA. In the institute there are engineers and researchers of road engineering, environmental engineering, chemical analysis, biological engineering, traffic engineering, road construction machinery, bridge engineering, transport economy, etc.. In the recent years the institute undertook EIA work, environmental engineering design, and relative basic research study for over 50 high grade road and individual bridge engineering projects; sponsored the ministerial document of "Specifications for Highway Construction Environmental Impact Assessment" commissioned by the MOC; with practical experiences of undertaking the EIA work for the World Bank and ADB loan projects. s  I  CHAPTER 2 ENGINEERING BRIEF 1. Construction Scale The main part of this project is composed of two components: (1) Dawu- Shenshan Section (not including Junshan Yangtze River Bridge) of Beijing-Zhuhai national trunk road; (2) Wuhan East Section and Wuhan West Section of Shanghai- Chengdu national trunk road, which are motorways with total mileage of 200.408 km The auxiliary project includes three connection roads: Dawu connection road, Huayuan connection road and Xiaogan connection road, which are second class roads, with total mileage of 39.7 km. Dawu-Shenshan Section is 143.365 km, with 12 interchanges, 53 separate grade crossings, 265 underpasses, 5 extra-large bridges, 5 large bridges with total length of 5978.3 m, with total investment about CNY 3856.6 million. Wuhan East Section (from Shenshan to Baoxie) is 44.526 km, with 4 interchanges, 43 separate grade crossings, 49 underpasses, with total investment about CNY 860 million. Wuhan West Section (from Zhushan to Yongan) is 12.517 km, with I interchange, 7 separate grade crossings, 26 underpasses, with total investment about CNY 248 million. Dawu connection road, linking the Dawu interchange with national road 107, is of second class road, 9.1 km long, with one large bridge of 286.4 m and one medium bridge of 42.9 m, with total investment about CNY 38.498 million. Huayuan connection road, linking the Huayuan interchange with national road 107, is of second class road, 11.5 km long, with one large bridge of 162.5 m and one medium bridge of 43 m, with total investment about CNY 39.668 million. Xiaogan connection road, linking the Sancha interchange with national road 107, is a reconstructed second class road, 12.2 km long, with one large bridge of 59.16 m, with total investment about CNY 30.434 million. 2. Classification of the EIA Since this is the project trying to get loan from international financial organizations, EIA work has been conducted as required by NEPA for projects with loan from intemational financial organizations. According to the classification of EIA for construction projects in China, this project belongs to class A, known as :large scale new road construction project", for which it is necessary to carry out overall environmental impact assessment study. 6  3. Geographical Position The area along the proposed road is situated in the eastern part of Hubei province and in the middle reaches of the Yangtze river near the eastern border of Jianghan plain, with Huanggang area adjacent to its east, Jingzhou and Xiangfan bordering on its west, Xinyang region Henan province on its north. In the south across the Yangtze river it is connected with Xiangning region, which is the "joint area" linking not only the south and the north, but also the east and the west of Hubei province. The terrain of this area is higher in the north than that in the south, with Dabie and Tongbai Mountain in the north, connecting with Damnufu Mountain in the south. Wuhan city and part of Xiaogan are located in Hanjiang plain area, with altitude generally less than 50 m. The hilly areas are mainly in Dawu county. Most of Xiaogan region are situated between the hills and the plain with altitude being generally less than 200 m. The alignment of the road is principally along the roof of high ground and plain platform with high altitude and little longitudinal fluctuations, while in alluvial plain area the alignment is smooth. 4. Schedule of Construction The construction period of this project is 3,5 years, i.e. from July 1997 to December 2000. 5. Traffic forecast Table 2-1 Traffic forecast for the proposed road (unit: converted PCU/day) Road section 2000 2010 2020 Dawu interchange - Hanlao interchange 11551 24881 43913 Hanlao interchange - Sancha interchange 13374 29374 49476 Sancha interchange - Quanli interchange 14867 26338 45794 Quanli interchange - Zhushan interchange 16579 34062 49619 Zhushan interchange - Shenshan interchange 18379 37732 59927 Shenshan interchange - Baoxie interchange 13369 23111 34695 Zhushan interchange - Yongan interchange 12745 24120 34592 Dawu connection 13185 6790 10937 Huayuan connection 2697 4184 8826 Xiaogan connection 6275 9528 14450 2 ' --z 't ) 7  CHAPTER 3 CURRENT ENVIRONMENT CONDITION AND ASSESSMENT 1. Terrain and Landforms The area, the proposed road passes through, is very vast with great terrain variation. From Jiuliguan to Xiaohe village of Xiaochang is heavy hilly area; from Fuhe to Junshan is plain lake area; with other areas being plain and light hilly. There are_soft soils in this area, therefore 22.7 km of road section need to be treated artificially. Meanwhile, the ground surface is characteristic of long time temporary water accumulation with higher water table. The soil quality is poor with higher water content. Therefore, soils for subgrade and pavement have to be transported far away from other places, which makes the engineering construction difficult and increases the cost. The geologic condition of the road section in the north of Fuhe is quite good, and so far no landslide, rock cracking and soft soil ground have been found in the area. 6". The stratum from Jiuliguan to Huayuan is ancient with bedrock along this route being shallowly buried, with outcropping rock seen everywhere. The stratum from Huayuan to the north of Fuhe is dominated by middle and ancient time Pleistocene series with hard soil texture. Along the route, the slope of the irrigation canals and ditches is not only steep, but also stable with higher loading capacity. The good geologic conditions provide reliable subgrade for the engineering work. As for the road section from the south of Fuhe to Junshan, the low-lying land is characteristic of short term deposit, soaked with surface water and underground water for many years, so that the soil is soft with low bearing capacity; except for the highland of Dushan, Hengshan, Zhashan, Junshan, etc. within Hanyang area being in good geologic condition. Most soft soil are in the East-west lake area, where the soft soil layer is thick and deep, and where the subgrade and bridge structure for the road section have to be properly treated, or appropriate support structure selected. The areas from Zhushan to Yongan and from Jinkou to Baoxie belong to denudation depositional high plain area. Due to the action of surface laminar flow, the area is characteristic of hilltops alternating with depressed ditches and branching streams. So the average filling height of the subgrade will be 3.5 m - 4 m. The area along the proposed road is in good geologic conditions, dominated by soil ground with few stony section. 2. Meteorology and Hydrology The affected area of this project is of middle and low latitude, belonging to the tropical continental monsoon humid climate characteristic of clear four seasons, long frost-free period, with plentiful heat and abundant water resources, warm and shiny as 8  well as rainy and hot season. The local climate in different areas, however, has its own characteristics due to different terrain effect, such as lake water body effect, depression and cool lake effect, mountain and slope effect and etc.. In spring the weather changes easily, the temperature tends to go up rapidly with more rains, sometimes it is cloudy and raining with very low temperature. The warm and cool air replace each other alternatively, which causes more raining in spring. In surnmer, the weather is warrm with plentiful rain and plum rains season so that the flood is easy to happen. In midsummer, it is usually clear and hot, with hot and dry wind from south occurring before or after slight Heat. In the fall, the temperature drops down quickly with more clear weather and less raining, meanwhile, dry weather easily occurs. In winter, it is very cold with few raining and often freeze with heavy wind and snow. The annual average temperature is 15 IC - 17