Visual Quality Assessment of Road Network within the Forested Areas

Abstract

The effects of different roads standards on visual quality have been investigated. The pictures of some roads within the forested areas of Usak Forest Enterprise Directorate were taken and road template components such as cut slope, fill slope, and road platform were evaluated for visual quality purposes. The effects of different road types (valley road, hillside road, and hill road) and road surface types (native road, forest road, gravel road, and asphalt road) on visual quality were also evaluated for road template components and different weather conditions (normal and wet weather). The results indicated that vegetation cover on cut and fill slopes was considerably effective on visual quality. It was found that hillside roads were better than other road types regarding with visual quality. Native roads and forest roads exposed better visual quality in normal weather conditions, while asphalt and gravel roads were better in wet weathers.