In the next 50 or more years, they would need to understand the inter-relationships that will be occurring between man and nature in this shared environment because there are direct connections with Lake Erie and Allegany River watersheds and ecosystems. All parties would identify environmental problems, and other man-made effects such as truck traffic, that are moving or spreading indiscriminately beyond specific sites, or across local governmental boundaries. Exposure of surface and groundwater to new sources of contaminants can cause water quality problems. New contaminants can come from specific sites of new economic activity, from highway traffic, from diverse causes of non-point source pollution, and from atmospheric deposition. Wildlife habitats, wetlands and open space can be lost to growth.
Growth also can incrementally fill-in low areas and alter flood damage risks.
Traffic congestion and safety concerns are expected to increase as levels of development, economic activity, and population growth slowly increase in the coming decades along the highway corridor and its intersections. There are many techniques that can be used to assess the impacts of growth within a shared environment such as a watershed or highway corridor. One of the newer techniques is very flexible and is based on the scientific concepts that are described above. That technique is called, cumulative impact assessment . Cattaraugus County has approached the issue of cumulative impact in a variety of ways during the past decade.