Aesthetic Evaluations of Forest Road Templates

Abstract

Forest road construction is the most costly activity which requires physical, environmental, and social considerations. In recent years, there have been increasing public considerations about the visual quality of the road and roadside aesthetics. The visual quality of a road template mostly depends on state of the road surface, vegetation cover on the cut and fill slopes, and aesthetic along the roadside. In this study, the selected forest road sections from Kahramanmaras and Adiyaman regions were evaluated to assess the aesthetic of the forest road template. The number of photos were taken from the road templates and evaluated by the forestry students, considering forest road surface, cut-slope, fill-slope, and roadside. Then, statistical analysis indicated that existence of vegetation cover especially on the fill sections was the most significant factor affecting the overall aesthetic value for the selected road templates.