Koala "one-way escape doors" are among the measures to reduce road strikes. (Supplied: Transport for NSW)
In short:
New technology such as AI cameras will be trialled to help reduce escalating koala and other wildlife fatalities on south-west Sydney roads.
More signage and one-way koala "escape doors" have also been flagged.
What's next?
The Sydney Basin Koala Network says promised wildlife road underpasses still haven't been built.
Artificial intelligence is being trialled to train roadside cameras to alert drivers when koalas are nearby.
NSW Roads Minister John Graham said it was part of the government's $500,000 election commitment to reduce wildlife strikes in hotspots across south-west Sydney.
He said "smart" signs were being trialled at a Transport for NSW facility at Yennora to recognise different types of animals then alert drivers.
"These signs … will actually detect when animals are nearby and will only light up if animals are moving around nearby," he said.
"It lets drivers know this isn't a theoretical question, practically there are animals, koalas for example, nearby the road as you're driving and drivers are much more likely to take serious note of that."
Another trial will test drivers on light-coloured pavement to see if it makes it easier for them to avoid wildlife.
"Simply what we are hoping here is drivers driving along, first they'll notice the change so they'll be more alert," Mr Graham said.
"But they're also more likely to see the animals' silhouettes as they're driving along.
"That's an idea we'll be testing at the research centre in Cudal."
Koalas are increasingly making their way onto roads in south-west Sydney. (Supplied: Transport for NSW)
Mr Graham said there would also be more signage at koala strike hotspot, Appin Road.
One-way koala escape doors will also be installed, enabling koalas to escape the road corridor where fencing is in place, but not pass back through into traffic.
Escape doors have been installed on koala fencing along the Hume Highway near Wilton, at the Nepean Bridge and Moolgun Creek Bridge and will be installed at Appin Road near Gilead.
But Saul Dean from the Sydney Basin Koala Network said Transport for NSW was yet to implement a range of promised measures to prevent koala deaths in south-west Sydney.
Concerns new measures too late
Mr Dean said promised koala wildlife underpasses still had not been built on Appin Road, where koala deaths from car strikes doubled in 2024.
An early concept design for a wildlife tunnel proposed for a housing development on Appin Road. (Supplied: Lendlease)
He said that was despite an escalation of koala deaths.
"Overall we are seeing basically a doubling of koala strike deaths in south-west Sydney over the last two years," he said.
"And we are running out of time, and really a lot of this basic koala infrastructure, wildlife crossings that were promised should have been put in place before any of the removal of koala habitat and the blocking up of their corridors has taken place."
Mr Dean said while the NSW Koala strategy had committed to doubling koala numbers by 2050, in reality it was heading in the opposite direction.
"If koala car strike death rates are doubling in the Appin area then we are obviously going in the wrong direction in terms of koalas doubling their numbers,"
he said.
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