Abstract

The paper covers selected environmental problems associated with road construction in Poland. Road works are linear in nature, which makes the investment process exceptionally difficult and complex, requiring the involvement of large human potential, time-consuming and very expensive. The article presents successive stages of road construction, from the preliminary stage to opening the road for users. Each stage of road construction process in Poland is related to environmental protection issues. Currently, in the days of sustainable development, it is not possible to obtain a decision on environmental conditions in order to be granted the development consent without including in design the solutions which guarantee minimisation of the influence of the project on the environment. Moreover, the applied technology and building materials must also comply with the eco-development requirements. This paper discusses the selected environmental issues present during the road design process (the problem of route selection process, public consultations, using instruments for environmental protection) and these related to the construction process (localisation, development and organisation of the building site facilities, water and waste management and on the building site, environmental declarations, recycling). This study is not attemped to be exhaustive, only selected issues are addressed in order to draw attention to the nature and importance of the environment protection problems arising in the complex process of roads development.