Roads and Connectivity in Colorado: Animal-Vehicle Collisions, Wildlife Mitigation Structures, and Lynx-Roadway Interactions

This report investigates the impact of highways and landscape connectivity in Colorado. To do so, it describes three complementary research questions. Given the threat of roads to both wildlife populations and human safety, describing the distribution of animal-vehicle collisions (AVC) is a necessary step in understanding potential roadway impacts. In the first section, hotspots of AVC occurrence on highways throughout Colorado are identified, and the characteristics associated with such areas are described. To address roadway impacts, mitigation efforts are increasingly common, although rigorous assessments of the functionality of such mitigation treatments are relatively rare. The second section reviews research efforts to design and implement field monitoring of roadway-wildlife interactions at three road segments in Colorado slated for construction and installation of wildlife crossing structures. This corresponds to the Colorado Department of Transportation's (CDOT’s) Highway Corridor Wildlife Mitigation/Habitat Connectivity Research Study Phases II & III: Development of Mitigation Goals and Pre-Construction Data Collection. Rare carnivores such as lynx may be particularly susceptible to roadway impacts, but the effects of roadways on lynx reintroduced in Colorado are largely unknown. The third section reviews wildlife use of seven underpasses specifically installed as mitigation for the potential impacts of road construction on lynx; this research project corresponds to CDOT’s Wildlife Underpass (Lynx) Monitoring Research Study. It examines the relationship between the movements of radio-collared lynx to roadways throughout the state and provides evidence that lynx in Colorado are selectively avoiding highways. The study results should be used for determining future locations of underpasses and other road-related mitigation for wildlife species, and future developments should continue to minimize impacts to rare and imperiled species.

• Record URL:
  https://www.codot.gov/programs/research/pdfs/2008/lynx.pdf/
• 
• Corporate Authors:

  Colorado State University, Fort Collins

  Warner College of Natural Resources
  Fort Collins, CO  United States  80523-1474

  Colorado Department of Transportation

  Research Branch
  Denver, CO  United States  80204

  Federal Highway Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Crooks, Kevin
  • Haas, Chris
  • Baruch-Mordo, Sharon
  • Middledorf, Kris
  • Magle, Seth
  • Shenk, Tanya
  • Wilson, Ken
  • Theobald, Dave
• Publication Date: 2008-3

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Web
• Edition: Final Report
• Features: Appendices; Figures; Maps; Photos; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 185p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Animal vehicle crashes; Cats; Endangered species; Environmental impacts; Habitat (Ecology); Highways; Monitoring; Road construction; Underpasses; Wildlife; Wildlife crossings
• Uncontrolled Terms: Environmental mitigation; Lynx; Wildlife mitigation
• Geographic Terms: Colorado
• Subject Areas: Bridges and other structures; Design; Energy; Environment; Highways; Safety and Human Factors; I15: Environment; I80: Accident Studies;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01098906
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: CDOT-2008-4
• Contract Numbers: 32.43/32.44
• Files: TRIS, ATRI, USDOT, STATEDOT
• Created Date: May 7 2008 11:20AM