‫ە‬A Case of Utilizing ResultsPreparation of a Manual of Road Crossing
Structures for Wild Animals (Draft)


MATSUE Masahiko, HeadSONODA Yoichi, ResearcherLandscape and Ecology Division, Environment Department(Key words) Road crossing structure, biodiversity, road kill

Plan for the installation of road crossings on newly planned routes
Proposed road crossing installation planЎ
Environmental survey of area around the planned road as part of a preliminary survey(Existing vegetation map, species composition survey, habitable land)
ЎSelection of target species to be conservedЎOrganization and consideration of preliminary survey results dataЎStudy of alignment and road structureЎStudy of road crossings, auxiliary facility installation locations, structural study‫ە‬After use
Maintenance and management of road crossings on existing roads

Proposed plan for maintenance on existing roadsЎCollection of environmental information around roads(State of habitats and of occurrence of road kill)ЎStudy of method of surveying the use of road crossings(Infrared sensor camera, survey of traces, etc.)
Ўpost-survey



Evaluation and feed back of post-survey results

Second study of target species to be conservedЎStudy of improvement of existing road crossings and auxiliary facilities
Ў
Improvement and supplementary installation of road crossings and auxiliary facilities

Figure 1. Road Crossing Structure Installation
Planning Flow Chart㻌

A Case of Utilizing Results‫ە‬New plans for roads

Planning/design

2. Road Crossing Installation Manual (Draft)
 Technical Methods for Evaluating Road
Environment Impact2) is used to study environmental
conservation measures with reference to Scientific
Knowledge and Similar Cases, to install roadcrossings for wild animals.
 The Landscape and Ecology Division of theEnvironment Department of the National Institute forLand and Infrastructure Management corroborated theeffects of installing road crossings by organizing casesof measures taken to deal with the division of habitatsof wild animals and by conducting a monitoring
survey from 2007 to 2009. It also performed a fact
finding survey of the use of road crossings by wild
animals for a three year period to prepare the Road
Crossing Installation Manual (Draft) based on
scientific knowledge. This manual provides acomprehensive corroboration of the usefulness of roadcrossings and organizes the process of work done toinstall and maintain road crossings based on
knowledge obtained from past surveys and otherexisting knowledge. An outline of the structure of themanual is shown in Figure 1.
 The manual summarizes the basic concepts andreference cases applied to study every step fromplanning and design to maintenance and managementof road crossings and their auxiliary structures
provided for use by wild mammals on new andexisting roads, and at the same time, presents a
detailed explanation of monitoring methods using
infrared cameras as a road crossing post-survey

method.
The manual will be used by persons in charge ofroad projects of regional development bureaus andregional governments after it is published as anNILIM report, and it will be revised in response to theopinions of its users so it is easier to apply in the field.
[References]
1) N. Fujiwara, Y. Kaneko, Y. Iizuka (2004):
Research on methods of providing ecological corridors
for medium to small size wild mammals, Report by
the Landscape and Ecology Division of the National
Institute for Land and Infrastructure Management, 147,55-118
2) Highway Environment Research Institute (2007):
Technical methods for evaluating road environment
impact, Vol. 3, p. 423

Maintenance/management
1. Need for road crossings for wild animals
The construction of a road directly and indirectly
impacts the ecosystems where the road is built. Direct
impacts of road construction include automobiles
running over wild animals (road kill)1), loss or divisionof wild animal habitat environments, and decline of
the quality of the ecosystem. Road kill not only
impacts the wild animals, it is reported that in somecases, collisions with animals have injured drivers orother people. Under these circumstances, roadcrossings for wild animals are effective compensation
measures which mitigate the impact of dividing
habitats of wild animals, and also an effective way toprevent injuries to humans involved in road killincidents.