MULE DEER HIGHWAY MORTALITY IN NORTHEASTERN UTAH: CAUSES, PATTERNS AND A NEW MITIGATIVE TECHNIQUE
Collisions between deer (Odocoileus spp.) and vehicles have resulted in considerable human, economic, and environmental losses. Romin and Bissonette (1996) estimated that at least 538,000 deer were killed along highways nationwide during 1991. Deer-vehicle encounters are likely to increase as roads are upgraded and expanded through areas of active deer use. This paper reports on the increased levels of deer-vehicle accidents that resulted from highway realignments associated with the construction of a municipal reservoir in northeastern Utah. The study began in October 1991; results obtained through November 1995 are presented. The focus is on the spatial distribution of deer-vehicle accidents with respect to vegetative and topographic features adjacent to the highways. The observed kill patterns were used to determine placement of newly-designed highway crosswalks. The effectiveness of the crosswalks at reducing deer-vehicle accidents and maintaining migratory movements of the local mule deer (O. hemionus) population is discussed. Design modifications are provided that may increase the utility of the crosswalk system.
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Supplemental Notes:
- Also published by Florida DOT as a paper in FL-ER-58-96, "Trends in Addressing Transportation Related Wildlife Mortality: Proceedings of the Transportation Related Wildlife Mortality Seminar (June 1996).
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Corporate Authors:
Florida Department of Transportation
Haydon Burns Building, 605 Suwanee Street
Tallahassee, FL United States 32301Federal Highway Administration
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
Washington, DC United States 20590 -
Authors:
- Lehnert, M E
- Romin, L A
- Bissonette, J A
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Conference:
- Transportation and Wildlife: Reducing Wildlife Mortality and Improving Wildlife Passageways Across Transportation Corridors
- Location: Orlando, Florida
- Date: 1996-4-30 to 1996-5-2
- Publication Date: 1996-8
Language
- English
Media Info
- Features: Figures; References;
- Pagination: p. 101-107
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Animal migrations; Crash causes; Crashes; Crosswalks; Deer; Design; Fatalities; Location; Measures of effectiveness; Topography; Traffic distribution; Traffic mitigation; Vegetation
- Uncontrolled Terms: Effectiveness; Mitigation; Mortality; Mule deer; Patterns
- Geographic Terms: Utah
- Old TRIS Terms: Topographical factors
- Subject Areas: Design; Environment; Highways; Planning and Forecasting; Safety and Human Factors; I21: Planning of Transport Infrastructure;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 00745658
- Record Type: Publication
- Report/Paper Numbers: FHWA-PD-96-041
- Files: TRIS, USDOT, STATEDOT
- Created Date: Jan 30 1998 12:00AM