When a roadway cuts through a natural area, all varieties of animal life can be cut off from critical needs including migration paths, shelter, food sources and reproductive partners. When animals attempt to follow their natural instincts and cross the roadway, automobile collisions then become a serious risk to animals and humans alike. 

But what if there was a way to keep wildlife connected to its natural habitat without impeding the need for high-speed transportation? In hundreds of locations around the world, specially designed and constructed wildlife crossings, often called animal bridges or green bridges, are the answer. They are constructed to help animals migrate, forage, hunt and reproduce the way they were meant to, even when a superhighway slices through their habitat. 

Whether immediately or over time, roadway projects necessary for modern society are linked to reduced animal populations, accelerating the extinction of threatened species and harming biodiversity. Confused wildlife also pose a threat to humans as collisions with vehicles can be very serious. 

Germany, home to Europe’s densest transportation network, experiences more than 200,000 wildlife accidents every year. To combat the issue, the German government passed a law in 2012 that requires animal habitats to be reconnected when a new roadway is constructed.

For two of these bridges, Komatsu equipment and technology played a key role in supporting the construction as well as reducing impacts on the natural environments. 

When Richard Clement, Deputy General Manager for Smart Construction with Komatsu Europe, first saw the “stunning” design for an animal overpass outside of Colbitz, Germany, he was startled by the scale of the project — and the purpose. 

“At the time it seemed very extravagant to go to the trouble of building a beautiful twin arch style bridge just to provide a green corridor over the road,” Clement recalled. But as he observed more, he changed his mind.

Clement and a team from Komatsu were involved in the cut-and-fill stage of a new stretch of the Autobahn 14. The animal bridge was one of two wildlife crossings for the project; a second, less elaborate structure was designed to guide bats safely across the roadway after disrupting their naturally occurring markers.

The new roadway cut a swath through forest and heathland between Colbitz and Crochern in a region considered Germany’s largest non-agricultural open space and largest motorway-free area. The arched wildlife bridge was to be constructed on a portion of the autobahn that bisected a forested area.

“During the construction phase, it was very obvious that there was no fencing to prevent wildlife from continuing to access the land,” said Clement. “The construction of the road would create a massive barrier to the wildlife roaming across this forest land.”

Clement and his team were enlisted to help contractors with excavating soil in one area, transporting it and using it to fill another area. This involved an 8.5-kilometer (5.3-mile) distance and 600,000 cubic meters (784,770 cubic yards) of fill material. “A key part of the challenge was enabling the job site staff to visualize the complete length of the site over such a long distance,” he said. Small errors could create delays and unnecessary excavation, furthering disruption of the natural environment. 

Through a combination of hardware, software and human expertise, the Komatsu team used drones and GPS tracking to collect 3D data of the excavation and fill sites as the crews worked. Hourly snapshots of the terrain enabled crews to track their progress and precisely compare it to their planned volume of cut-and-fill material. With that data, they could quickly adjust machine movement and excavation plans for optimum efficiency and minimal disruption. 



It was a time- and cost-saving approach that also helped the environment, benefits that typically can go hand in hand with the right equipment and technology. 

“Any job site time reduction or efficiency improvement minimizes disruption to the area and reduces fuel and carbon emissions,” Clement said.

Three years later, Clement was on a motorcycle trip through Germany and traveled on the same stretch of road. He was pleased to see the two elegant but bare concrete arches he remembered had been softened by lush green to incorporate into the natural landscape. “It was exciting to see the finished road and bridge from that perspective,” he said.

The technology Komatsu tested on the project became part of our Smart Construction Fleet and Dashboard applications, now in use at construction sites throughout Europe, Australia, North America and Asia. 

And research shows that this wildlife-friendly bridge building is working. One study monitored five crossings over a six-year period and documented between 5,000 and 11,700 wildlife crossings per bridge.

In 1988, Richard Clement had just completed his initial training as a Komatsu recruit and was ready for his work assignment on the shop floor in Awazu, Japan. A freshly minted engineer who was born, raised and educated in England, he was excited about starting his profession with Komatsu in Japan, where cutting-edge innovations such as just-in-time, flexible manufacturing systems and the burgeoning field of robotics were transforming the manufacturing industry.

To learn more about the machine’s interaction with a job site, he and other engineers hit the road to visit distributors and customers, watching Komatsu equipment at work and talking to buyers, site engineers, operators and surveyors. “Applying the Komatsu engineering principles to these visits helped me understand what was really important – don’t just focus on the machine, look at the process sequence.”

That commitment to understanding the complete work environment and process — a concept known as Gemba — was critical to developing Komatsu’s Smart Construction family of solutions. “This is essentially why Smart Construction evolved, because of the realization that the whole process is as important as the yellow machine.” Later getting to see those technologies at work supporting the construction of animal bridges demonstrates the breadth of experience and opportunities one can find at Komatsu. 

Though he initially joined the company for a three-year program introducing overseas engineering graduates to Japanese principles, Clement went on to have a 37-year career that took him around Japan and Europe. He retired in October as the Deputy General Manager for Smart Construction for Komatsu Europe. Now he hopes to see new generations take the lead on innovating for the future. “There is an opportunity to be part of something significant in how this industry is transforming, and every engineer has a significant part to play.”

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