Utah SR 73 Eagle Mountain Mule Deer Crosswalk and Wildlife-Detection Driver Warning System Research

Details

• Creators:
  Cramer, Patricia ; Hamlin, Robert
• Corporate Creators:
  Wildlife Connectivity Institute
• Contributors:
  Black, Todd
• Corporate Contributors:
  Utah. Department of Transportation. Research and Innovation Division ; United States. Department of Transportation. Federal Highway Administration
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  Animal Detection System (ADS) Animal Vehicle Crashes Carcasses Crosswalks Deer Detectors Driver Warning System Fences Mule Deer Speed Limits Speed Reductions Warning Systems Wildlife-Detection System (WDS) Wildlife-vehicle Collisions (WVC) Wildlife-vehicle Conflict Wildlife Crashes Wildlife Crossings

  More +
• Publication/ Report Number:
  UT-26.18
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  United States ; Utah
• Edition:
  Final Report: Aug 2023 to July 2026
• Corporate Publisher:
  Utah. Department of Transportation
• Abstract:
  The State Road (SR) 73 Eagle Mountain Wildlife Crosswalk (Crosswalk) and Wildlife-Detection Driver Warning System (the System) were part of wildlife accommodation efforts to reduce mule deer/wildlife-vehicle collisions (WVC) while allowing mule deer migrations to continue across SR 73. These included the 60-feet wide Crosswalk gap in wildlife exclusion fence, and the System. The posted speed limit at the Crosswalk was 55 mph, and the average annual daily traffic was over 10,000. Objectives were to evaluate if and by how much the System affected driver speeds at the Crosswalk and evaluate if the System, together with the wildlife fence and crosswalk, reduced WVC crashes and carcasses. The greatest decreases in speeds in the Crosswalk occurred when the researchers activated the System and stayed out of view. Average speeds of motorists in the Crosswalk with the System activated were 1.4 to 2.8 mph less than speeds in the Crosswalk without System activation. In both tests, the reduced speeds were still above the posted 55 mph speed limit. When mule deer were documented at the Crosswalk and the System was activated, speeds were decreased on average 1.1 mph, to an average of 57.8 mph. There were genuine reductions in carcass and crash densities in the area of the Crosswalk after the completion of all wildlife accommodations. Carcasses were reduced by 83 percent and crashes were reduced by 60 percent. Immediately west of the south wildlife exclusion fence terminus, carcasses increased by 12 percent while crashes increased by 46 percent.
• Format:
  PDF
• Funding:
  24-8215
• Collection(s):
  US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:003090cf1934f9a1ad32034b6b523c9ffb7900f85e61b17af1fbb902be9f69a95343b7d097280043326abb93a7cfcec828758fd51f97956cd3360634ed064640
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/93105/dot_93105_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 4.19 MB ]