Examples

Direct land use impact on of a highway project is acquisition of land for right-of-way: the land use change (from, say, residential to transportation right-of-way): (a)close to the project (it is in the right-of-way), (b) happens at the time of the project (the project cannot be started without the land use change), (c) is certain, and (d) is caused directly by the highway project.

Examples

Implied, indirect land use effect: is the claim that a highway project improving travel time to a central city will eventually cause a jurisdiction to rezone undeveloped land near, but not adjacent to, the project for residential development. The causal link is much more tenuous than the right-of-way acquisition.
The possible impact is (a) distant from the improvement (the land is not adjacent, and perhaps over a mile away from the right-of-way), (b) may not occur, perhaps, for many years, (c) is uncertain (maybe it will happen, maybe it will not), and (d) the result of many intervening forces (e.g., the highway project affects travel time, which affects land value, to encourage property owners and developers in outlying areas to petition for zone changes, to allow more residential development).