The construction of roads and railways enhances economic development and social welfare as it allows development to grow and increases regional integration. It promotes timely delivery of goods and services and reduces times and costs in terms of communication; however, it is also a source of ecosystem fragmentation and impact on ecosystem services.
Interaction between nature and road infrastructure is inevitable as development progresses and populations grow, which results in increasing usually adverse interrelationships between humans and wildlife.
The incidence of wildlife on roads and railways constitutes a problem, both for road safety and biodiversity conservation as the result of the strong impact these works have on ecosystem connectivity. The inclusion of wildlife passages on roads and railways has been for years an adequate solution to this problem, but it has to be based on local wildlife, road criteria and legislation as well as each country’s economic possibilities, as not all passages could be suitable for all sorts of animals or budgets.
Mexico’s very diverse fauna needs very diverse wildlife crossing solutions, which are considered within our country’s first Handbook, intended to promote these structures among transport infrastructure builders under unified criteria, as well as engineering and biological recommendations, considering options for different kinds of budget and road characteristics.
Mexico’s Handbook for planning, designing and building wildlife passages on transport infrastructures is presented here as a support tool to contribute to sustainable development, through the installation of wildlife crossings on existing and future road projects, considering an integrated landscape management and ecosystem connectivity, as well as different types, sizes and displacement forms of wildlife. The planning and construction of wildlife passages in Mexican roads is offered as a solution that allows, on the one hand, to reduce the risk of animal-vehicle collisions for users of roads and railways and, on the other hand, to reduce their impact on biodiversity loss due to road kills and habitat fragmentation.
Implementing wildlife passages as artificial biological corridors on transport infrastructure in several countries has proved to be a successful strategy for safeguarding life and restoring or conserving connectivity in the surrounding ecosystems. They have shown positive results in the reduction and prevention of animal-vehicle collisions, wildlife survival and ecosystem conservation.
This Handbook is an initiative that considers all stages in transport infrastructure construction, including planning, design, construction, maintenance and monitoring, in an attempt to promote the inclusion of wildlife passages in existing and new roads thought the country.