The Use and Effectiveness of Highway Underpasses by Large Mammals in Virginia

About the project:

To address the issue of animal-vehicle collisions and habitat fragmentation, the installation of wildlife crossing structures on roadways is gaining popularity among transportation agencies. A performance evaluation of seven underpass structures throughout Virginia will be performed in order to provide information that will aid VDOT in maximizing the benefit from its investments in these structures. A structure's success will be based on its use by wildlife and on its potential to reduce animal-vehicle collisions. Sites will be monitored with remote cameras over a 12-month period to determine the extent of use of the structures by large mammals such as deer and black bears. Using accident data provided by the Highway Traffic Records Information Systems database, the effectiveness of the crossing structures in terms of reducing animal-vehicle incidents will also be determined by analyses of accident locations relative to structure locations.

Project Team

Principal Investigators