Studying the Effects of Light Rail Transit on Urban Environment Quality Case Study: Line 1 of Mashhad LRT

Urban environment quality is the issue taken into consideration in urban planning. Many issues may affect environmental quality، one of them is transportation. In this research، inner city rail transit and specifically Light Rail Transit (LRT) has been considered. Three dimensions define quality of urban environment; environmental، social، and physical-functional. Rail transportation can influence these dimensions in a positive or negative way. The present study intends to investigate the effects of startup line 1 of Mashhad LRT on urban environment quality in general and specifically in Taleghani، Parvin Etesami and Namayeshgah stations. Questionnaire، interview and observation are used in this study to gather the information. The results of the study reveal that the effects like increasing noise pollution due to surface rail (environmental)، making welfare and bliss view in citizens’ image (social)، and reinforcement physical structure of the city (physical-functional) are significant in the case study. However، the effects like reducing the rate of car ownership (environmental)، negative effects on local identity due to presence of strange people in neighborhood (social)، and raising the price of the land، consequently changing in land use (physical-functional) are not proved.