Page 289 - Beyond Decommissioning

270 Beyond Decommissioning

high quality urban space. The project includes also a youth hostel, library, business
space, and auditorium (Van Gendthallen Amsterdam, 2015).

6.7.5.2 Roads

Internal roads at a nuclear site serve either onsite transport of goods or the movement
of people (Fig. 6.52). At a decommissioned site, roads can either serve unchanged the
purposes of new installations or be redeveloped for new purposes.
The range of possible modifications to existing roads is open to imagination. Here
it will suffice to mention a few typical cases (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unused_
highway). One common reuse of redundant roads is their transformation into trails.
However, each route should be evaluated on its own merits and after carefully con-
sidering advantages and drawbacks. Converting a road to a trail should not solve
one problem only to create another. Recreational opportunities include typically:
camping; walking/hiking; mountain and cross-country biking; walking dogs; run-
ning/jogging; bird watching; photography, etc. However, specific attention should
be given to the financial resources (current and future) to maintain the trails, to envi-
ronmental impacts (e.g., vehicle erosion), and to the needed repair. Design and con-
struction guidance for road-to-trail conversion is detailed in California State Parks
(2003). A case study of general interest can be found in East Bay (n.d.).
A slightly different approach is the conversion of roads to parks. Building a high-
way in a city is often regarded as a solution to traffic congestion. In fact, experience
has shown that more routes attract more traffic: the converse seems also true. Conse-
quently, some cities have chosen to remove spaces dedicated to cars and convert

Fig. 6.52 Road on Zion NPP site, IL, USA.
Courtesy of NRC.