The 60m wide Ecoduct Kempengrens, was constructed in 2014 to connect important natural areas across the Belgium-Netherlands border along the E34/A67 highway. This defragmentation project won the IENE Project Award 2014 for excellent cooperation between the countries and institutions involved. But did the main target species also find its way to the ecoduct?

In 2012, an extensive ecological survey was conducted using reference plots in the vicinity of the future ecoduct. The monitoring was repeated in 2016 and in 2022, respectively two and eight years after the ecoduct was completed. To investigate the use by target species, several proven methods such as camera traps, life traps, bat detectors, ‘snake plates’ and pit falls were employed. In addition to this common monitoring methods, centuries-old trace knowledge was used to examine a wide range of animal tracks, which proved to be an excellent complement.

In 2016, the nearest observation of the key species Coronella austriaca, was still 1km away from the ecoduct. In 2022, both adult and sub-adult Smooth snakes surprisingly reached the ecoduct. Additional measures were taken to optimise landscape connection in both countries, which undoubtedly contributed to this success.

Eight years after the completion of the world’s first cross-border ecoduct, monitoring revealed the rapid colonization, even by some less mobile and rare species typical of heathland. The success can be attributed to a well-considered ecological design, adapted to the needs of the most critical species, and most importantly, the connection with natural areas in the vicinity.

Developing transportation infrastructure is crucial to handle increased traffic of goods and passengers on roads. Highways, while essential, pose safety risks like wildlife-vehicle collisions, often requiring fencing. However, this exacerbates habitat fragmentation, threatening ecosystems. To address this, highways feature wildlife crossings either over or under roads. This study examined 57 overpasses in Hungary's highway network, analyzing parameters like crossing length and noise barrier design using GIS programs. Environmental assessments within 500 meters of each crossing revealed an average inner width of 14±4.8 meters and a width-to-length ratio of 0.16, classifying them as narrow. Design characteristics varied, with 56% having a straight ramp design and 44% an hourglass or semi-hill design. Noise barrier designs included wood piles only (47.4%), wood piles with vegetation (35.1%), vegetation only (15.1%), and panel protection in only 1 case. Overpasses were classified based on habitat characteristics, with 56% in agricultural areas ("Agro overpasses") and 44% in forested areas ("Forest overpasses"). Overpasses in agricultural areas were found to be favourable for roe deer. This study underscores the importance of wildlife crossings in mitigating habitat fragmentation and promoting safer transportation infrastructure.
This publication is supported by RRF-2.1.2-21-2022-00011.

Crossing structures are often used to restore wildlife movement in landscapes where connectivity may be lost due to transportation infrastructure. Crossing structures often serve multiple purposes (e.g., human-use, drainage), however this may come at a cost to wildlife-use. To explore this, we use an extensive camera trap dataset, to investigate the influence of humans on the usage of crossing structures by ungulates in Sweden. Using generalized additive mixed models, we analyzed latencies of moose and roe deer usage after previous ungulate vs. previous human event. We found that human activity at crossing structures at sunrise leads to latencies of ungulate-use up to 27 and 32 hours for moose (Alces alces) and roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) respectively. Comparatively, when no humans are present on the crossing structures, ungulates events can occur within approximately 3 to 4 hours of one another. The effect of human usage decreases over the course of the day, and human activity has the least impact shortly before sunset, when human activity leads to moose and roe deer latencies of 4.5 and 3.5 hrs (compared to 9 or 7 hours after another ungulate for moose and roe deer, respectively). The type of human activity (separated into pedestrian, non-motorized or motorized vehicles) did not influence the results. Thus, human presence in general, affects temporal patterns of crossing structure-use by ungulates, particularly when humans use crossing structures at sunrise. Human usage should be avoided during sunrise to reduce possible exclusion effects on ungulates.

The first ecoduct in the Czech Republic was finished in 1999. Currently, there are 34 ecoducts in the operation, 4 more are under the construction and there are going to be more built in the future. The long-term monitoring of ecoducts has not been done yet, only partial information is available. Therefore, from year 2022 to 2025, a comprehensive monitoring of ecoducts is being carried out, where the effectiveness will be evaluated.
Monitoring is done mainly using camera traps which are placed in suitable places so that the entire migration area on the ecoduct is covered - usually 1 to 3 camera traps are used. Photos are sent via the 4G network to the cloud storage and processed into the database using an automatic script. Then each record in the database is manually processed by identification of animal species, its direction and behaviour. For example, in 2023 – 150 000 photos were sent, which were processed into the 65 000 database records. At the same time, the field surveys are carried out for each ecoduct – for example, animal tracking, checking of ecological conditions and disturbances, surveys of technical parameters and others.
By analysing all obtained data, it will be possible to identify the optimal solutions for future projects and to reveal the design errors. For now, it has been observed that some of previously built ecoducts don’t fully fulfil their functions.
On the conference we would like to present monitoring methods, data processing and partial results of the project.

Since 2018, in line with the European green infrastructure policy, the French Ministry of Ecology has decided a mission to improve the understanding of all the measures facilitating wildlife mobility, by establishing a Fauna Passages (FPs) database called "SIPAF". The Cerema, alongside the Cévennes and Ecrin National Parks, developed a comprehensive tool for managing this data.
The database collects all dedicated FPs and combined passages (e.g., those accommodating both river or road and wildlife) (first priority), as well as passages used exclusively for agricultural or forestry purposes and those not specifically designed for wildlife but proven to be used by animals (second priority). Contributions to the FPs database come from stakeholders - departmental and national roads/railways, as well as private motorway/railway operators (soon from canal stakeholders, i.e. ramps).
Today, more than 800 FPs have been registered in SIPAF. Stakeholders are encouraged to register their FPs by uploading comprehensive lists or by entering data individually, via a dedicated web interface.
SIPAF's main functions:
- It helps the French Ministry and local authorities to integrate FPs into national and local strategies, thus fostering a better coordination of new passages.
- It enables infrastructure project managers to better identify the need for the placement of new FPs by providing visibility of existing structures.
- It supports research efforts by consolidating knowledge from past and ongoing FPs monitoring, facilitating the forthcoming standardisation of monitoring practices.
However, the collection of FP data faces challenges, particularly from departments that do not even have a database of passages.

Wildlife passages can significantly improve ecological permeability of traffic routes, thus minimising their barrier effect for animals and increasing road safety at the same time. The effectiveness of overpasses and underpasses is generally recognized and was confirmed by many monitoring studies carried out in Germany for selected groups of species over the last three decades. However, consolidating the knowledge by identifying, compiling, and evaluating the results of many monitoring studies carried out on wildlife passages can optimise the approach to plan, construct, and maintain wildlife passages in the future. The aim of this research project is to provide a database containing comprehensively collated and at the same time expertly prepared findings from monitoring studies of wildlife passages in Germany, depending on the type, location, objective and design of the respective passages as well as their integration into the respective landscape. The knowledge compiled and processed in the database can be adopted for the construction of new infrastructure, but also for the reconnection of the existing transport networks. This could further improve the effectiveness of fauna passages through optimised planning, construction and maintenance as well as targeted monitoring. At the same time, utilisation of the database makes it possible to answer detailed questions in a knowledge-based manner and with high technical quality. The findings can also be used to update the “Guidelines for the installation of wildlife passages” which is a general recommendation in Germany for fauna passages .

In 2022, concerns were raised about the lack of management of wildlife crossing structures in South Korea.
Therefore, we started a research to understand the status and issues of wildlife crossing structures and to work on their improvement.
In South Korea, a total of 564 wildlife crossing structures have been constructed to restore fragmented ecological corridors and reduce roadkill.
We investigated whether wildlife crossing structures comply with the “Guidelines for Design and Management of Wildlife Crossing Structures in Korea.”
We evaluated overpasses based on 9 criteria and underpasses based on 8 criteria.
The survey results showed that there are 366 overpasses and 198 underpasses in South Korea.
Overpasses, 11.7% (43) complied with 7 or more criteria, 38.8% (142) complied with 4-6 criteria, and 49.5% (181) complied with 3 or fewer criteria.
Underpasses, 2.5% (5) complied with 7 or more criteria, 39.4% (78) complied with 4-6 criteria, and 58.1% (115) complied with 3 or fewer criteria.
For overpasses, compliance rate with topographical connectivity was the highest (65.6%), while compliance rate with wildlife fence management was the lowest (14.5%).
For underpasses, compliance rate with bidirectional wildlife fence installation was the highest (58.1%), while compliance rate with tunnel openness and wildlife fence management was the lowest (16.7%).
Overall, the compliance rate with guideline was 41.1% for overpasses and 38.3% for underpasses.
Efforts to increase compliance rate with guidelines are necessary to enhance the effectiveness of wildlife crossing structures.
Mandating the guideline could be a practical way to enforce the compliance.