Abstract
Expressways in Korea are high-speed traffic roads connecting important cities. Road infrastructure continues to expand to accommodate the increase in traffic volume associated with the growth of industry and tourism. Here, data on 36,863 roadkill events that occurred on expressway routes managed by the Korea Expressway Corporation between 2004 and 2019 were analyzed. Characterizing patterns of roadkill is important for prioritizing roadkill mitigation measures. We identified consistently increasing or decreasing trends using Mann–Kendall statistics and Sen’s slope. Roadkill was most common in Gangwon Province and was concentrated between May and June and between October and December. Water deer (Hydropotes inermis) was the most common road-killed species. The trend analysis revealed a statistically significant decline in Gangwon Province and a statistically significant increase in the Capital Area and Chungnam Province. There was a significant increase in wild boar (Sus scrofa) roadkill in the first and fourth quarters. Mitigation measures are needed for regions and species showing increasing trends, including water deer in the first to third quarters, periods for which no decline in water deer roadkill was noted.
Highlights
Expressways in Korea are high-speed traffic roads connecting important cities
Accurate roadkill data need to be obtained to aid the development of management and roadkill mitigation measures
The roadkill analyzed in this study was limited to routes (4151 km as of 2019) managed by the Korea Expressway Corporation and included high-speed national expressways defined in the Road Service Manual of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport
Summary
Expressways in Korea are high-speed traffic roads connecting important cities. Mitigation measures are needed for regions and species showing increasing trends, including water deer in the first to third quarters, periods for which no decline in water deer roadkill was noted. Korea has continually increased since construction was first initiated, reaching 111,314 km in 2019 (www.stat.molit.go.kr, accessed on 22 September 2021). Expressways in Korea, which are major roads providing high-speed transportation exclusively for automobiles (www.ex.co.kr, accessed on 22 September 2021), connect important cities. With the expansion of road infrastructure and the growth of the leisure and tourism industry, the traffic volume of expressways continues to increase. Roadkill occurring on high-speed roads can even lead to large-scale vehicle accidents, and the resulting material damage can be quite large. Accurate roadkill data need to be obtained to aid the development of management and roadkill mitigation measures
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