Road Ecology Center

Some ecological processes are affected by the transportation infrastructure development. The barrier effect caused by roads, which alters the movement patterns of terrestrial wildlife and increases its road kill risk, is just an example. Road kills must be considered both from environmental and highway safety perspectives, and are related to road permeability and to the surrounding environment. This paper compares the landscape fragmentation caused by two freeways in Navarra (north of Spain) by analyzing both their landscape surroundings and the potential road permeability, and comparing them to road kill rates of medium-sized terrestrial wildlife. As a result, some road design recommendations have been drawn up.