IDENTIFYING THE BEST LOCATIONS ALONG HIGHWAYS TO PROVIDE SAFE CROSSING OPPORTUNITIES FOR WILDLIFE: A HANDBOOK FOR HIGHWAY PLANNERS AND DESIGNERS

This document is primarily a manual to aid highway planners and designers in managing wildlife crossing of roadways. Because the preferred habitat and behavior of a given species can vary across its range, it is important to employ professionals familiar with the landscapes and species of concern on the analysis team. The results of the study also suggest that to maximize cost- and biological-effectiveness, wildlife considerations should be incorporated into initial project planning and design. This approach avoids costly redesign delays stemming from environmental compliance obligations by considering reduction of wildlife/highway conflicts as a baseline design constraint. It also allows designers to find engineering solutions that do double duty, e.g., positioning retaining walls to stabilize slopes and serve as roadside barriers to guide animals to a safe crossing location. Finally, it may be necessary to work with the entities that manage landscapes surrounding projects to maintain the landscape structure cues that bring animals to mitigated crossing locations. The purpose of the handbook is to describe the highway and landscape variables that highway planners/designers should consider when choosing the best locations for mitigation that helps medium- and large-sized mammals cross highways safely. This manual should be used when planning and designing major highway improvements or new roadway alignments. It should also be used in designing wildlife impact mitigation projects.

• Record URL:
  https://www.codot.gov/programs/research/pdfs/2003/wildlifecrossing.pdf/
• 
• Corporate Authors:

  University of Colorado, Denver

  Center for Geotechnical Engineering Science
  Denver, CO  United States  80271-3364

  Colorado Department of Transportation

  4201 E Arkansas Avenue
  Denver, CO  United States  80222

  Federal Highway Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Barnum, S A
• Publication Date: 2003-8

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: Appendices; Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 67 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Environmental engineering; Environmental impacts; Habitat (Ecology); Handbooks; Highway design; Highway planning; Landscape design; Mammals; Underpasses; Wildlife; Wildlife crossings
• Subject Areas: Bridges and other structures; Design; Environment; Highways; Planning and Forecasting; I21: Planning of Transport Infrastructure;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00962121
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: CDOT-DTD-UCD-2003-9,, Final Report
• Contract Numbers: PG HAA 02HQ208
• Files: TRIS, USDOT, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Aug 19 2003 12:00AM