Design of roads in harmony with wildlife

"Procedures for the Design of Roads in Harmony with Wildlife" or "Harmony" is a project that aims to develop sustainable solutions to road transport challenges that are in harmony with wildlife. This paper summarises Harmony's work in the areas of Environmental Legislation and Guidelines, Project Appraisal, and Procurement Practices. The project mainly focuses on practices in the eight reference countries of Ireland, the United Kingdom, Belgium, the Netherlands, Hungary, Austria, Sweden and Denmark. A review of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Appropriate Assessment (AA) is carried out. As part of this review, a database of over 80 Environmental Impact Statements (EIS) and Appropriate Assessment reports is analysed to identify the similarities and differences between countries in the implementation of the duties required by EU Environmental Legislation. It is found that the degree of implementation under the headings considered varies greatly between countries. It is concluded that increased monitoring is required in all countries. Project appraisal guidelines are also examined in the reference countries. The project appraisal process needs a set of tools to enable rational and sensible route choice decisions to be made that strike a balance between the requirement to protect wildlife and other factors such as economy, safety and societal objectives. The project appraisal methodologies used in the reference countries are compared and the approach used in the UK is recommended for adoption by all member states. This paper then examines existing approaches to the procurement of road constructions in the reference countries. The different types of contracts used for procurement are described and the benefits and disadvantages of different contract types are discussed. Recommendations are then made as to which contracts are the most favourable for ensuring the environmental commitments of the Environmental Impact Statement. Early contractor involvement as well as construction contracts that incorporate maintenance, with monitoring, for an extended period afterwards were cited as key recommendations to ensure a good outcome for wildlife.