Wildlife Mitigation Measures: Concept Planning. Kevin Roberts, Part 3

NSW comprises a road network of 184 118 km length. Most of this network is managed by local authorities with some funding support from the NSW and Commonwealth Governments. The RTA manages 17 932 km of the road network comprising State Roads and Motorways.

The land adjacent to the road is managed by a range of bodies local authorities, Conservation Agencies, other State infrastructure Agencies, private companies and individuals. Regulation governing roads, roadside environments and their management is complex roads legislation, OH&S legislation, contract law, planning legislation, and environmental protection legislation all apply to the construction and operation of roads. These regulatory frameworks impact on the delivery of wildlife connectivity measures in a number of ways. A simple example is where construction of a fauna underpass requires the provision of safe access for essential maintenance.

Roads impact on biodiversity and are a barrier to fauna and flora movement but they affect different types of species in different ways including having different impacts on the same species at different times of the year. At any one time there are a range of road projects underway these could include maintenance of a culvert structure or construction of a new four lane divided motorway.


Given this complex operational environment, how does a road authority make decisions to invest a proportion of its assessment, construction and maintenance budget into measures designed to facilitate connectivity across its infrastructure?

In NSW, the RTA has invested considerably in measures to improve connectivity notably on major highway upgrades such as the Hume and Pacific Highways but also in much smaller projects.

The RTA invests in connectivity measures for the following reasons:

1. As part of the RTAs commitment to minimise the environmental impact of its work.

2. As a response to community expectations to provide safe crossing for fauna.

3. Because conditions of approval require connectivity measures to be implemented

4. Because we have successfully implemented mitigation measures on past projects.

5. Because it presents a design challenge and opportunity for innovation

This presentation provides a brief overview of how an agency such as the RTA plans for incorporating connectivity measures into road projects and argues for the development of a standard approach that combines engineering and science with project management systems that delivers a good outcome for biodiversity consistent with delivery of public value.

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