Highway infrastructure plays a crucial role in modern transport networks, but it also presents significant environmental challenges. Surface water management is a key concern, with increasing urbanisation and a growing population driving the need for more effective systems to collect, store, treat, and release water safely.

Poorly managed surface water can lead to flooding, pollution, and long-term infrastructure damage, with around 38% of all roads in areas at risk from flooding - which essentially means more roadworks, more traffic light systems and subsequently a lower tolerance for other road users… just me? Anyway, this makes it essential to integrate sustainable drainage solutions that balance performance, resilience, and environmental impact.

At the same time, roads and highways can act as barriers to wildlife movement, disrupting habitats and leading to significant biodiversity loss – Imagine if someone decided to drive the M6 right through your living room, nightmare, the toll alone would be ridiculous.

Innovative solutions, such as wildlife tunnels, amphibian-friendly kerbs, and guidance systems, are helping to create safer passageways for animals while reducing roadkill (which accounts for nearly a third of most deaths a 2023 study reported) and habitat fragmentation. 

As awareness of these issues grows, there is a pressing need to ensure that infrastructure projects incorporate both advanced surface water management techniques and effective wildlife connectivity measures.

With evolving regulations, new technologies, and a greater emphasis on sustainability, the challenge now is to drive the widespread adoption of these solutions, ensuring they become an integral part of highway design, construction, and maintenance. And who better to talk to about this than someone that lives and breathes it!

 As a Specialist Design & Application Engineer for ACO, Terry Wilkinson has focused his career on the highways industry, both in his 11 years at ACO and prior to this working as a client, consultant and contractor for Local Authority highways. He is a member of the CIHT and ICE and is working towards his chartered engineer status with CPD at the heart of this journey. His professional interests are focused on wildlife mitigation solutions and highway drainage in particular making him the perfect chap to chat to about SuDs, wildlife mitigation and keeping both humans and animals safe.

Water and Wildlife Topics

- (SuDS) in Highways: Challenges and Innovations

- Wildlife Mitigation in Infrastructure: Balancing Development with Ecology

- Integrating Surface Water Management with Wildlife Protection

- Climate Resilience in Surface Water Management: Preparing for Extreme Weather

- The Future of Highway Drainage: Smart Technologies and Digital Innovation

Links

Adobe Express 30-day Free Trial: https://prf.hn/l/ZYdd028 

Website: https://www.builddifferent.marketing/

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/builddifferent

Further Links

https://www.aco.co.uk/sustainable-drainage-systems-(suds)

https://www.aco.co.uk/wildlife

https://reachandrescue.com/flood-statistics/#:~:text=Around%205%20million%20people%20live,%C2%A31.1%20billion%20across%20England. 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-assessment-of-flood-and-coastal-erosion-risk-in-england-2024/national-assessment-of-flood-and-coastal-erosion-risk-in-england-2024 

https://www.newcivilengineer.com/latest/flooding-and-drainage-related-defects-to-uks-road-network-see-36-rise-07-02-2024/ 

https://www.aco.co.uk/news/article/Managing-biodiversity