Analysis of Spatio-Temporal Evolution and Driving Factors of Eco-Environmental Quality during Highway Construction Based on RSEI

One essential part of transportation infrastructure is highways. The surrounding eco-environment is greatly impacted by the construction of highways. However, few studies have investigated changes in eco-environmental quality during highway construction, and the main impact areas of the construction have not been clarified. The highway from Sunit Right Banner to Huade (Inner Mongolia–Hebei border) was used as the study area. GEE was used to establish RSEI. During highway construction, Sen + M-K trend analysis, Hurst analysis, and Geodetector were employed to assess RSEI changes and driving factors. The results show the following: (1) An area of 1500 m around the highway is where the ecological impact of highway construction will be the greatest. (2) The curve of the annual mean of the RSEI from 2016 to 2021 is V-shaped. From northwest to southeast, there is an increasing trend in spatial distribution. (3) The largest environmental degradation during highway construction occurred during the first year of highway construction. (4) The factor detector results indicate that DEM, precipitation, distance from the administrative district, and FVC were the main RSEI drivers in the research region. The interaction detector’s findings show that the drivers’ combined influence on the RSEI was greater than that of their individual components. (5) Compared to the 2016–2021 trend, the proportion of future degraded areas in terms of eco-environmental quality will increase by 3.16%, while the proportion of improved areas will decrease by 2.99%.