These Guidelines were developed as a framework for understanding the primary ecological issues to be addressed in the planning, design and management of roads in rainforest environments. This manual has been created to assist in reducing the main impacts of roads, which are primarily:
• Habitat loss and fragmentation;
• Reduction in habitat quality;
• Edge effects;
• Reduced animal movements, resulting in restricted genetic flows and diminished survival rates in some species;
• Population reduction through road kill of wildlife species;
• Erosion, sedimentation and pollution;
• Impacts on scenic quality;
• Disturbance from vehicular noise, headlights and movement;
• Facilitation of the spread of exotic pests,
• weeds and diseases; and
• Direct mortality from road construction activities.
Cumulatively, these impacts threaten the biodiversity and integrity of ecosystem processes throughout Queensland’s tropical forests. It is therefore imperative that current and future road infrastructure be designed with consideration of these factors within the context of the natural environment.
This document provides a set of principles and supporting guidelines for implementing best practice planning, design and management for ecologically sustainable roads within rainforests
throughout Queensland. The intention of these Guidelines is to describe the particular aspects
of rainforest environments that are unique and thus require particular consideration when
designing and constructing roads in these habitats.
Therefore, these Guidelines were specifically developed to:
• Inform planners, engineers and managers about the key ecological elements (Principles) to consider when building roads in rainforest environments;
• Identify the most important issues to consider when planning, designing and implementing plans for road infrastructure so that the impacts to the primary ecological elements of rainforests are minimised. Each major issue is clarified within its own ‘Guideline’; and
• Provide a set of steps and checklists within each Guideline to ensure that the core Principles are maintained throughout the different phases of planning, design and construction
