Transportation Environment

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Introduction

Transportation is the movement of people, animals and goods from one location to another. Transportation and mobility should not be considered only a technical or geographical phenomenon. Both terms are fundamental for every social and economic activity such as commuting, manufacturing, influence social structures.

Social Role of Transportation: Development in transportation systems has direct relations to the development of society. Everywhere in the world people travel from one place to other place for work, shopping, and many other social reasons. From the beginning of the civilization the mankind is settling near the banks of the major river junctions, a port or an intersection of major trade routes. Then the cities start growing beyond normal walking distance and need for technology started a series of inventions which led us to the current day scenario where we can travel to the other end of the world in just several hours.

Economic Role of Transportation: Economic activities involve production and consumption of goods and services. Initially human depended on natural resources to satisfy their needs but sooner they discovered the immense requirement of transportation of raw material and knowledge due to non-uniform availability of resources. Transport is a key component of growth and globalization. Economic opportunities start arising when transport infrastructure is available to answer mobility needs and to access markets and resources.

Environmental Role of Transportation: Transport has an important role in the development of the society, both in a positive (transport of people, raw materials, products, information) and a negative sense (traffic accidents, GHG emissions). The rapid growth in transportation capacity to move people, goods and freight is reflected in increasing environmental burden. Different compounds are emitted by different modes of transport. These compounds often have...