Rospuda - studium ochrony i kształtowania krajobrazu

The article presents the Landscape Impact Assessment, prepared by the author within the Environental Impact Assessment report of Augustow Bypass, nearby the Rospuda Valley. This report is a final documentation, basic for a decision concerning the most controversial proposal in Poland in recent years. An original methodology has been presented. It has been of special concern to delimit the zone of visual influence of different bridge projects, crossing the most valuable part of the Rospuda Valley. Digital models of terrain, the river, and planned engineering objects enabled it to define the "visual envelope" and to create the visualisations of bridges "located" in the pictures of real landscape. The adopted criteria of landscape impact assessment aimed to indicate the less harmful route alternative. The study shows the practical application of landscape architecture, and can serve as an argument for the implementation of Landscape Impact Assessment studies at Landscape Architecture departments.