E-174 VOL. 6 Public Disclosure Authorized National Highway Project Upgrading Xinxiang--Zhengzhou class I ° highway to Expressway Standard Highlightes pf Environmental Impact Public Disclosure Authorized Assessment (Third Revised Version) SCAt4INEDV1E6F Public Disclosure Authorized FILE(Cola g LrG r 6WTENW SA P Henan Provincial Environmental Protection Institute Public Disclosure Authorized October, 1998 1. Description of the Proposed Project 1) Upgrading work on Xinxiang--Zhengzhou class I highway is a temporary work to achieve original capacity of the existing class I highway before building of Xinxiang-- zhengzhou Expressway. The proposed section for upgrading, till year 2004 , will take two in one" status between BeiJing--shenzhen National Trunk Highway and National highway 107 . After year 2004 upon completion of Xinxiang--zhengzhou expressway and the second Zhengzhou Yellow River Bridge at new alternative alignment , the upgraded section will mainly take the traffic volume on National highway 107 2) Based upon the recommended alignment , Upgrading work on Xinxiang--zhengzhou class I highway consist of : North section of the Yellow River Bridge(starting from the terminal point on Anxin expressway ending to the north bank of YR ): this section is 39.326km long with fully-access-controled and service road being built . There need to be newly built 1 simple interchange, 24 overpass separation interchanges, to reconstruct 1 toll station, 9 passageways ,newly built 9 small bridges, and 7 middle bridges ,150 culverts as well as 29.848km of approach road and service road and 43.5km of continuous road ; the section from the north bank of YR to Longhai railway interchange (south section.to north bank of YR involves the Yellow River Bridge itself ): this section is 30.447km in total and will be provided with barrier (fence) for isolating motorized and non-motorized vehicle lane . The major intersections will be installed with signal control system of red & green light ,while the other intersection will built overpass bridge for pedestrian only allowing access to pedestrian. This section need to be newly built 9 overpass bridge for pedestrian with total length of 315m, reconstruct 1 toll station ,and newly increased fence 49584m in length, barrier 24690m and 4 sets of signal lights and widening of pavement as well . 3) Affected by the proposed Jiaozuo Yellow River Bridge and Xinxiang--Zhengzhou expressway along with the second Yellow River Bridge, the traffic voloum on the upgrading section will increase before 2004 and will sharply decrease in 2004 , and then with the year going , it will re-increase . 3 4) Since the proposed project is the World Bank financed project , the saving from the Bank loan under National Highway Project will be used. According to the loan closing date under the project , the upgrading project planned initially to be commenced in December of 1998 and completed by the end of September 2000 , with 23 months of construction period The total investment of the upgrading work is estimated to be RMB 532.11 million yuan in which the savings from the Bank loan US $19 million (RMB 157.70 million)will be used . 2. Description for Local Physical Environment 5) The proposed project is in middle-north part of Henan Province and both sides of Yellow River . The north section of Yellow River lies to western side of Huabei plain which belongs to Haihe valley with wide flat ground . Because the Yellow River has ever changed its river courses in centuries, the acient river channel, river bank and river floodland can be seen along the route; The south section is located in the Yellow River alliuval plain area which belongs to Huaihe valley where the Yellow River has frequently changed its river courses and over-flooded its river bank , thus this section area can clearly reflect geomological feature of the YR changes . 6) The project area falls with transition area from warm semi-arid climate zone to north semi-tropical climate zone , which belongs to warm continent monsoon climate zone with semi-moisture , semi-dry climate feature and distinct four seasons. The climate is mild, with dry and windy springs, hot and rainy summer. In the autumn, there is a sharp difference of temperature between day and night hours; in winter, it. is cold with little rain and snow 7) The project area belongs to stability heterogeneity engineering geology of the Yellow River alluvial plain and is in the area of 7 degree basic earthquake intensity. 8) The project area goes through Xinxiang and Zhengzhou city and also involve a small part area in Wuling county of Jiaozuo city . The three cities of Zhengzhou, Xinxiang and Jiaozuo are relatively economic developed city comparing with other city in Henan province and Average Gross National Product for the three cities are all above the average level of the whole province 4 9) Since the villages adjacent to both side of highway has been relocated While construction of the existing XZH, there are only 8 villages within 200m on both side of the project and beside of this , such villages is 150m away to the project . South section of YR is almost close to Zhengzhou urban area where many commercial facilities was built on both side of highway . No special environmental sensitive area including hospitals, schools and scenery resort and recovery spot etc. was built on the existing XZH 10) Through investigation, no special sensitive area such as hospital, school , scenery spot , recovery spot etc. Located on both side of the existing Xinxiang-Zhengzhou and through investigation, no cultural relics was distributed underground or on the ground along the route 11) In accordance with the statistics analysis on the monitoring results for the four acoustic environmental monitoring spot of the existing XZH , acoustic environment along the route was impacted by highway traffic noise on the existing XZH . Out of the four monitoring spot , except for one spot is better , the rest three is poor . It is indicated quality of acoustic environment within 200m off the XZH can not reach the catalogue "4" area in environmental Noise Standard for Urban Areas (GB3096-93)" . Particularly environmental noise Leq is very serious at night in which the highest over-limit value is 18.2dB(A), 12) Present air environment status was monitored in the course of Environmental Assessment , and its location of monitoring point is as same as that of acoustic environment . As stated in the monitoring results, air environment on north section of the YRB can meet the Grade II standard limit in environment Air Quality Standard (GB3095--1996)" , while south section fail to meet above standard ,for TSP is the main pollutant indicator above the standard limit. As a whole, TSP on the whole section is the main pollutant in air environment and was above the standard limit on south section; Concentration present value of CO, Nox is low and not above the standard 13) The cohesive soil and sand soil is prevailing along the route of XZH . According to the monitoring results for lead content in the farmland layer along the route, the lead content is between 18.8--21.56mg/kg , which is far below the Grade II standard (standard limit is 300mg/kg) in the soil Environmental Quality Standard" (GB15618--1995) It imply the lead content will not pollute the soil of farmland layer of the project and 5 will be still within the range of natural soil background 14) it is indicated from monitoring result at Huayuankou profile of the YR in 1997 that water quality near YRB can not meet the standard of III category in "quality standard for ground water quality "(GB3838--88), and water quality was slightly organic polluted 3. Prediction of Environmental Impact 15) According to the information with comparison analysis, in construction period of the project , scope of impact due to construction noise are not beyond 200m off the construction site at daytime. No people will be affected during upgrading the Yellow River Bridge ; Because many business housings are located on both side of highway on south section which would restrict transmission of the noise, environment impact scope by construction noise is small ; As the villages on both side of the project is over 150m away the construction site, impact by construction noise to these villages will not be serious. During construction period of the project , acoustic environmental quality near the villages will keep same as usual 16) During construction period , upgrading work on the Yellow River and its south section will focus on access- controlled work and separating installation ,thus blown dust due to construction activity is not so much and not adversely affect the air environment; During construction on north section, blown dust will adversely impact the area within 200m leeward of- construction site , in particular serious impact within lOOm leeward, but almost no village is located within lOOm of both side of highway , therefore, blown dust due to construction may affect the villages on the north section in light manner . As the construction period of the project lasts 23 months, the affected period due to construction dust will only lasts 23 months 17) As an upgrading project , the earthwork required for the project is a little and not need more land acquisition , thus eco-environment would not seriously be destroyed by construction activity , in addition, some eco-environmental damage could be recovered soon in many cases ; Cultural relics along the route was surveyed, excavated and protected before building the existing Xinxiang-- Zhengzhou class I highway , hence, the cultural relics would not be adversly affected by the proposed upgrading work. 6 Construction activIty-.would disturb existing traffic each other,. it is,"important for the contractors to properly arrange their working time and construction dispatching; The environmental impact in other aspect is not serious during construction period, after the necessary environmental measures being appropriately taken , such adverse impact could be mintll?zed to the lowest degree 18) Environment impact by the traffic noise at the sensitive point was predicted with prediction model in the EIA report.