Landscape planning principles evaluation of Kastamonu–Arac highway

The road is one of the main construction elements that contribute adding value to social, economic and cultural development of the society. Apart from providing travel convenience, roads also allow individuals to meet nature. Moreover, the roads are indicative of the level of development of the countries. The damage caused by the construction of roads, the number of vehicles and the increase in the diversity brings a great harm to the landscape. Landscape planning is an essential need to reduce the pressure on ecosystem. Landscape architect should conduct a coordinated work with other disciplines as well as taking an active role in road construction and following process. The data collected in this research using different methods, provides important information about the issues in roadway planning and the control of erosion on the roads. The purpose of the study is to evaluate the current situation of the road between Kastamonu and Araç province with the landscape planning criteria and collected information from the study and with these collected data it is aimed to determine the level of highway's pressure on natural landscape. 15 different examplication points have been identified along the route. As a result of the investigations carried out at examplication points, the quality of road construction materials used in the first 19 km of road route and road safety standards were higher than the rest of the route. In 7 examplication points, there is area for refuge planting and 10 examplication points have safety lane and open drainage canals. Along the road route, there are 14 junction points and memorial forests belonging to different institutions. In the study area it is observed that plantal design have not integrity.