Both personal mobility and freight traffic are increasing in our societies. At the same time, the quality of our lives and our environment now becoming matters of vital concern is impaired in many ways by transport related disamenities: noise, pollution, vibration and visual intrusion. Such disamenities can, however, be curbed if due account is taken of them in transport infrastructure planning for example, by proposing alternative routes, noise screens, conservation of the archaeological heritage and nature (flora and fauna).

Round Table 79 examines the environmental studies carried out when infrastructures are being built and shows how the findings can be incorporated in the decision-making process, for example, by final choice of route, measuring degrees of disamenity, threshold values, and the assignment of a monetary value to effects.