Bat bridge
Encyclopedia
A bat bridge is a structure of varying construction crossing a new or altered road to aid the navigation of bat
Bat
Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera "hand" and pteron "wing") whose forelimbs form webbed wings, making them the only mammals naturally capable of true and sustained flight. By contrast, other mammals said to fly, such as flying squirrels, gliding possums, and colugos, glide rather than fly,...

s following the destruction of a hedge
Hedge
Hedge may refer to:* Hedge or hedgerow, line of closely spaced shrubs planted to act as a barrier* Hedge , investment made to limit loss* Hedge , intentionally non-committal or ambiguous sentence fragments-See also:...

row, and to cause the bats to cross the roadway at a sufficient height to avoid traffic. Bats are thought to follow the lines of hedgerows and woods, and removing these may confuse the bats.

The theory is that these "bridges" will be seen by the bats' sonar as linear features sufficiently similar to the old hedgerows as to provide an adequate substitute. The Highways Agency
Highways Agency
The Highways Agency is an executive agency, part of the Department for Transport in England. It has responsibility for managing the core road network in England...

 is performing a study of those on the Dobwalls bypass to determine if this assumption is justified.

Bat structures in the UK designed and constructed between 2004 and 2009

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Scheme Name !! Road Number !! Road Opened !! Approx Length of Structure (meters)!! Single or Dual Carriageway !! Cutting/Embankment/At Grade !! Approx Construction Cost of Structure
|-
| Dobwalls
(2 Structures) || A38
A38 road
The A38, part of which is also known as the Devon Expressway, is a major A-class trunk road in England.The road runs from Bodmin in Cornwall to Mansfield in Nottinghamshire. It is long, making it one of the longest A-roads in England. It was formerly known as the Leeds — Exeter Trunk Road,...

 || June 2008 || Structure 1—59.47m
Structure 2—70m || Dual || At Grade/In Cutting || £300,000.00
|-
| Haydon Bridge || A69
A69 road
The A69 is a major road in northern England, running east-west across the Pennines, through the counties of Tyne and Wear, Northumberland and Cumbria. Originally the road started in Blaydon, but since the creation of the A1 Western Bypass around Newcastle upon Tyne, it now starts at Denton Burn a...

 || April 2009 || 19.5m between support posts || Single || In cutting || £60,000.00
|-
| High and Low Newton || A590 || April 2008 || 33m span between timber supporting posts || Dual || In cutting || £45,000.00
|-
| Parton to Lillyhall || A595 || Dec 2008 || 34m span between supporting steel structures || Dual || On embankment || £34,133.00
|}

A497 Pwllheli

In 2006, followihirng the upgrade of the A497 between Pwllheli
Pwllheli
Pwllheli is a community and the main market town of the Llŷn Peninsula in Gwynedd, north-western Wales. It has a population of 3,861, of which a large proportion, 81 per cent, are Welsh speaking. Pwllheli is the place where Plaid Cymru was founded. It is the birthplace of Albert Evans-Jones -...

 and Criccieth
Criccieth
Criccieth is a town and community on Cardigan Bay, in the Eifionydd area of Gwynedd in Wales. The town lies west of Porthmadog, east of Pwllheli and south of Caernarfon. It has a population of 1,826....

, a bat bridge was installed to help the six species of bats in the area to cross the road.

A465, Gilwern to Abergavenny

On the recent upgrade of the A465
A465 road
The A465 is a major road in south Wales. It is more commonly known as the Heads of the Valleys Road because it joins together the north ends of the South Wales Valleys...

 in 2007 near Abergavenny
Abergavenny
Abergavenny , meaning Mouth of the River Gavenny, is a market town in Monmouthshire, Wales. It is located 15 miles west of Monmouth on the A40 and A465 roads, 6 miles from the English border. Originally the site of a Roman fort, Gobannium, it became a medieval walled town within the Welsh Marches...

 in Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

, two bat bridges were constructed in the locations where full bridges previously stood to aid the navigation of bats.

A38, Dobwalls

The A38
A38 road
The A38, part of which is also known as the Devon Expressway, is a major A-class trunk road in England.The road runs from Bodmin in Cornwall to Mansfield in Nottinghamshire. It is long, making it one of the longest A-roads in England. It was formerly known as the Leeds — Exeter Trunk Road,...

 Dobwalls bypass, a section of dual carriageway
Dual carriageway
A dual carriageway is a class of highway with two carriageways for traffic travelling in opposite directions separated by a central reservation...

 bypassing the village of Dobwalls
Dobwalls
Dobwalls is a village in south-east Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated three miles west of Liskeard.The name is spelt Dubwalls on Bartholomew's map and Black's Guide of 1879....

 was completed in 2008. The bat bridges here are much more elaborate and sophisticated than the earlier Welsh structures, which consist of cables strung from poles. At a cost of £250,000, two bat bridges were constructed. One of these, pictured, consists of three steel towers with cables suspended between them carrying mesh panels. The other consists of a single span of cables and mesh panels between concrete and steel anchors either side of a cutting. A third bat-crossing consisted of a raised parapet modification to a new road bridge.

A487, Groeslon

A bat bridge was installed in January 2010 on the A487
A487 road
The A487 is a trunk road in Wales, running up the western side of the country from Haverfordwest in the south to Bangor in the north.It starts at Merlin's Bridge near Haverfordwest, from where it travels north west to St David's, then switches back north east through Fishguard, Cardigan, Aberaeron,...

 bypass in Groeslon
Groeslon
Groeslon is a small village in the community of Llandwrog in the Welsh county of Gwynedd.Nearby villages are Penygroes, Carmel and Dinas. The village lies approximately five miles south of Caernarfon. It has one primary school in the centre of the village and no secondary schools...

 near Caernarfon
Caernarfon
Caernarfon is a Royal town, community and port in Gwynedd, Wales, with a population of 9,611. It lies along the A487 road, on the east banks of the Menai Straits, opposite the Isle of Anglesey. The city of Bangor is to the northeast, while Snowdonia fringes Caernarfon to the east and southeast...

, Wales. The road runs through the Glynllifon Special Area of Conservation which is home to a lesser horseshoe bat
Lesser horseshoe bat
The Lesser Horseshoe Bat , is a type of European bat related to but smaller than its cousin, the Greater Horseshoe Bat...

colony.
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