* Ongoing Koala road mortalities along Pacific Highway upgrades.

NSW Roads & Maritime Services
Tweed & Byron LGAs, NSW
2013

This project examined factors contributing to ongoing koala road mortalities along a 50km section of upgraded Pacific Highway between Chindera in the Tweed LGA and the Ewingsdale interchange in the Byron LGA. Analysis of 15 years of koala road-kill data, the presence/absence of fencing, fence types and associated issues such as maintenance were examined. The results irrefutably confirm the value of wildlife exclusion fencing as a means of keeping koalas from entering road corridors, while also i) identifying the need for higher standards of route-focussed ecological  assessments (i.e. identifying locations where fencing and underpasses are required in the first instance) and ii) identifying ways of koala-proofing interchanges and/or intersections that enable koalas to gain access into the Highway corridor where they are consequently struck by motor vehicles.