Monitoring wildlife-vehicle collisions : analysis and cost-benefit of escape ramps for deer and elk on U.S. highway 550.

Siemers, Jeremy L.; Wilson, Kenneth R.; Baruch-Mordo, Sharon

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Monitoring wildlife-vehicle collisions : analysis and cost-benefit of escape ramps for deer and elk on U.S. highway 550.

2015-05-01
By Siemers, Jeremy L. ; Wilson, Kenneth R. ; Baruch-Mordo, Sharon

File Language:

English

Details

Creators:

Siemers, Jeremy L. ; Wilson, Kenneth R. ; Baruch-Mordo, Sharon
Corporate Creators:

Colorado State University. Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation
Corporate Contributors:

United States. Federal Highway Administration
Subject/TRT Terms:
Publication/ Report Number:

CDOT-2015-05
Resource Type:

Tech Report
Geographical Coverage:

Colorado
Corporate Publisher:

Colorado. Dept. of Transportation. Applied Research and Innovation Branch
Abstract:

Wildlife fencing along highways can lower wildlife-vehicle collision rates by excluding animals from the road right-of-way. Still, animals can ; breach fencing and end up trapped within the fencing along the highway right-of-way, exposing wildlife and motorists to the risk of collision. ; Wildlife escape ramps are designed to allow trapped animals safe passage out of the right-of-way. Few recommendations exist on effective ; design of escape ramps and monitoring data are limited. We investigated the usage levels, escape success, wildlife-vehicle collisions, and ; design of 11 escape ramps and two escape jumps along an eight-mile stretch of U.S. Highway 550 near Ridgway, Colorado. Our goals were ; to 1) relate usage levels and escape success to ER structure design and its surrounding environmental characteristics, 2) describe the animal ; use of ER in the study area, 3) conduct a cost-benefit analysis for escape ramp construction and 4) provide recommendations regarding ER ; design and WVC based on data collected. ; Implementation ; A number of Implementation recommendations are made in the report including: installation of additional ramps at specific locations, ; addition of improved mitigation at the ends of wildlife fencing, and specific improvements to select escape structures.
Format:

PDF
Funding:

Study No: 032.47
Download URL:

https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/29199/dot_29199_DS1.pdf
File Type:

[PDF - 6.52 MB]
Collection(s):

US Transportation Collection
Main Document Checksum:

urn:sha256:13f27048ea74c9f4a4cab0e24503a6248579df83aace6a7e70ecc412b8969f01

File Language:

English

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