Environmental Impact of Transportation Infrastructures: Integrated Methodologies for Preliminary Assessment. A Case-Study

The assessment of environmental sustainability of transport infrastructures is a particularly complex and significant theme, characterized by multiscalarity and multidimensionality. The paper intends to illustrate a recent experience of preliminary assessment referring to an infrastructure project for the Local Public Transportation (LPT) and the related urban projects, and functionalization works (squares, underpasses, bridges, etc.) to be carried out in the municipality of Pompeii, in province of Naples. Starting from a theoretical framework on the links between transport infrastructures and land use planning, the paper illustrates the operating procedures for the preliminary assessment carried out through a multi-level analysis that has considered the intensity, scale, probability and finally the reversibility of the impacts, also identifying the necessary mitigations. Finally, it proposes a reflection on the increasingly mentioned need to engage and correctly inform citizens in all phases of the environmental assessment of infrastructure interventions in the territory.