Natural Resources Canada
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Road Density
Abstract
Transportation activities have a great impact on the environment because they fracture natural habitats and create pollution. Roads intrude into natural habitats, separating ecosystems and permanently altering the landscape. Road building has undesirable effects on species that require large tracts of undisturbed land.
The main impact of transportation is due to vehicles’ large consumption of fossil fuels. This consumes the fossil fuel reserves, as well as releasing greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere. There is a radical difference between high road density in the settled parts of southern Canada, and virtually no roads in the Arctic ecosystems.
Human activity is increased by ease of access. Therefore, a measure of access can be an important indicator of a variety of stresses on ecosystems. Roads are the most common form of access in Canada. Roads enable human access to extract resources, build towns and industrial sites. Roads can also fragment the natural landscape and bring undesirable effects on species that require large tracts of undisturbed land. This map clearly shows the radical difference between high road density in the settled parts of southern Canada compared with virtually no roads in the Arctic ecosystems.
Refer to Table 1 to find the percentage of each road type (highway, primary, secondary, street, and limited access roads) found in each ecozone.
Other Maps in this Series:
- Industrial Discharge Sites Map | Read about this map
- Population Variation by Ecoprovince, 1971 to 1996 Map | Read about this map
- Sewage Treatment Map | Read about this map
- Species at Risk Map | Read about this map
