Evaluation of providing bat habitat on transportation structures
Bat populations that hibernate in colonies in caves and mines are in steep decline across the U.S. due to white nose syndrome. Loss of summer roosting habitat can exacerbate the…
Ecological Impacts Resulting from Structural Shading/Shadowing on Wetlands and Essential Fish Habitat
Objective of research would be to provide verifiable data demonstrating effects of elevated structures in various ecosystems to help accurately identify impacts for permitting and NEPA studies. Impacts to freshwater…
Investigation of the Accuracy of EPA’s Monitoring Network for Designating and Classifying Areas as Nonattainment Areas
The designation and classification of areas as nonattainment areas has significant impact on that area. It requires developing both policy and technical approaches to bring the area back into attainment.…
Promoting Small Wildlife Highway Permeability: Assessment Of Design Criteria For Effective Passages And Cost-effective Monitoring Approaches
There would be two parts to this study: 1) Literature Review and Synthesis of Current Practices and 2) Development of Cost-Effective Monitoring Techniques 1. Literature Review and Synthesis of Current…
Best practices for managing hazardous trees
Roadside trees can create hazards in different ways beyond the crash risk with a fixed object. Additional hazards that create transportation risk are dropping limbs or entire trees falling into…
Practical Measures for Managing Chloride-Based Deicers
Chloride-based deicers continue to be the primary deicing chemical of choice due to the huge cost differential with non-chloride deicers, which generally cost 15 to 20 times more than regular…
Sustainable Design and Maintenance for Urban Freeway Roadsides
One of the greatest challenges to state transportation agencies is maintenance of roadsides along urban freeway corridors. In many cases plantings in such corridors are designed to be more ornamental…
Selecting plant species for roadside safety while supporting pollinator and stormwater functions
Survey of DOTs, wildlife scientists and landscape architects to summarize species that are valuable for roadside revegetation, pollinators and/or stormwater applications but are not likely to attract wildlife to the…
Environmental Impact and Life-Cycle Analysis of Winter Roadway Abrasives
BACKGROUND: Recent research has challenged the effectiveness of roadway abrasives in certain settings, but states throughout the nation still use roadway abrasives as part of their winter maintenance programs. The…
Design and Management of Road Crossings for Small Terrestrial Wildlife
Gather and summarize existing information on crossing structures and methods for monitoring use by small terrestrial mammals, reptiles and amphibians to develop a summary of available reports, plans and design…