N18 highway, the Netherlands

The nature reserves of Slangenburg, Wrange and Montferland are located around the N18 motorway. Because of this motorway, the areas are no longer connected. 5 dense fauna tunnels provide the solution to reconnect the areas and keep the animals safely away from the traffic on the road.

Issue

A condition from the clients of the Municipality of Doetinchem and Rijkswaterstaat was that the fauna tunnels should continue to function for a long time.

Reptiles in the Netherlands have a small size, maneuverability and climbing ability, which means that there are high demands on the fauna facilities for reptiles. In addition, consistent maintenance and management are of great importance for the proper functioning of fauna passages. The client wanted to use daylight to ensure that the tunnel would be of interest to reptiles, amphibians, hedgehogs and badgers during the day.

Solution

Due to the length of the tunnel, it was decided to install 3 Solatube daylight systems per tunnel. The systems used here are the prefab fauna systems with a diameter of Ø 35 cm with a round mounting plate. The positioning is as follows: one almost at the beginning, one in the middle and one at the end. In this way, the animals that move through the tunnel always have the feeling of seeing the end of the tunnel.

Because the system is delivered completely prefabricated, installation on site is easy. In addition, the systems are low maintenance; ideal for hard-to-reach places like motorways. Various studies have now been carried out to determine whether the fauna tunnels are functioning as desired and this shows that the fauna tunnels are used regularly.

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