Methods Used by the Arizona Department of Transportation to Reduce Wildlife Mortality and Improve Highway Safety

Abstract

The Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) has responded reactively to increasing accidents involving elk and deer on state route 260 over the last five years. Efforts to reduce these accidents have included signing, and vegetation treatments such as thinning to improve visibility and chemical treatments to reduce attractant vegetation. With new construction planned for S.R. 260, opportunities to proactively plan to reduce wildlife mortality and improve highway safety are occurring. Field research and accident data have been used to determine locations of wildlife travel corridors, use of existing bridges by elk and deer, and diet preference. Bridges are being constructed over these corridors to allow wildlife to pass beneath the roadway through their preferred movement routes. Fence, along with escape ramps and one-way gates, will be constructed to encourage wildlife to cross the roadway under bridges. Re-vegetation with palatable vegetation in movement corridors, along with >guzzler= tanks and salt stations, will be added to further attract deer and elk into safe crossing areas. Re-vegetation of the road shoulders with unpalatable plants, plus a larger clear zone will make the road shoulders less attractive to foraging wildlife. Habitat enhancement projects including controlled burns and re-vegetation with nutritional forage will take place off of the right -of -way to improve forest habitat for both deer and elk. A five-year monitoring plan to evaluate the effectiveness of fence, bridges, gates, ramps, and habitat improvements in reducing wildlife accidents and improving wildlife movement on the Mogollon rim area of Arizona has been drafted.