
On 19th March, a meeting of the management team of ‘SAFEROAD – Safe roads for wildlife and people’ project was held in Barcelona at the headquarters of the Government of Catalonia’s Department of Planning and Sustainability. Representatives from Conference of European Directors of Roads, ALTERRA-Wageningen UR, the Swedish University of Agricultural Science and MINUARTIA met technicians of traffic safety from Catalonia Government.
The project will integrate and generate new knowledge on techniques to reduce wildlife mortality and the barrier effect of roads, which will help to reduce the risk of accidents with animals and to ensure the conservation of wildlife populations.
The project also facilitates the application of knowledge that is generated through practical guides for road managers and others involved in managing the natural environment.
Among other tasks, MINUARTIA is responsible for leading the development of a guide on best practices for road maintenance, and together with teams from Sweden, Norway and the Czech Republic will develop models for assessing and reducing accidents in sections where there is a high concentration of accidents with animals, in collaboration with the Directorate General for Land Mobility Infrastructures.
The project has a budget of €598,000 and is part of the CEDR Transnational Road Research Program 2014-2016.