Turtle-Safe Roadways

In the area of the world where I live, many motorists are involved in damaging and sometimes fatal collisions with animals, and thousands of animals are killed each year. Animals involved in these kinds of accidents include everything from bugs to bucks. One group of creatures mercilessly slaughtered by vehicles in the spring and summer are reptiles, turtles, in particular. I have always felt that birds and mammals had a distinct advantage on the roadways compared to their reptilian cousins. Mammals and birds have the metabolism to actually move out of the way in time to avoid a vehicle, even if their instincts do not always guide them to move in the right direction. Turtles, on the other hand, are much slower on land by nature. Roads sometimes cut across their migration and movement routes. Roads are also heatsinks, and attract cold blooded creatures, especially early in the day. A few sick bastards seek out these creatures with their vehicles and kill them for “pleasure.”

Originally, I thought about what it would take to make roadways animal friendly, but I think there are too many obstacles to prevent that from happening. Fences, enclosures, etc., are impractical, and ultimately detrimental to the animals. Fences unnaturally segment the open ranges of animals even worse than roads currently do, and animals that did get past any fence would essentially become trapped within the road area. Natural fences, like hedges, trees, and the like, provide some animal shelter and might provide some management of the problem (not to mention beautification of the roadway, purification of the air, and deadening of vehicle noise). However, hedges or other natural fences, would not discourage turtles from crossing roadways.

I propose three minor modifications to roadways which will greatly decrease turtle mortality. 1. Raise a barrier, 8-12 inches high, on the far left and right sides of the roadway. My first thought would be a concrete curb, smoothly finished, with grates for water drainage. Or, conversely, when building the road, build the road bed a foot or so higher than the surrounding terrain. 2. Every so often, along natural routes of movement, create an access tunnel under the roadway, so that turtles could cross safely. These would simply be drainage culverts, placed in the “high traffic” (that is, turtle traffic) areas. 3. Every so often, build flat concrete “sunbathing stones” for turtles, several yards removed from the roadway. That way, turtles and other cold-blooded creatures would have an alternate place to sunbathe than the road. The turtle-safe road idea is partly baked, I have been happy to discover, [links] but not the particulars, especially the idea of providing alternatives for how some cold-blooded animals use roadways for heating.