The coolest wildlife highway overpasses you'll see all day
12-08-10, 09:36 PM
#1
The coolest wildlife highway overpasses you'll see all day
The coolest wildlife highway overpasses you'll see all day
The five designs for animal bridges you see here are finalists from over 100 entries for the ARC Wildlife Crossing Infrastructure Design competition sponsored by the Western Transportation Institute at Montana State. The competition is looking for "next generation" wildlife crossing designs, something that ups the ante over the tunnels, underpasses and bridges already in use by Canada to give back some migratory to our quad-pedal cousins. The organizers even picked a real stretch of Interstate 70 in Colorado called the Vail Pass as its theoretical location.
We won't belabor you with descriptions of each finalist's design, as all are basically a similar take on an interstate-spanning bridge topped by the topography and flora of the surrounding Rocky Mountains. Our vote, however, goes to The Olin Studio's entry (above) that sharply curves up the edges of the crossing to allow more light under the bridge as well as shield animals from the sights and sounds of traffic passing underneath.
Regardless of your favorite, don't expect to see any of these designs crossing Colorado's I-70 anytime soon, as the winner of the competition, which will be announced January 23, wins nothing but bragging rights. The Colorado Department of Transportation doesn't have the money to build a wildlife crossing here, but promises to pre-qualify the winning design for consideration if it ever does.
Gallery:
http://www.autoblog.com/photos/vail-...osals/#3635666
http://www.autoblog.com/2010/12/08/t...l-see-all-day/
12-08-10, 10:32 PM
#3
Pole Position
Do these actually work? I know animals are instinctively scared of the road, (they see cars as other creatures) but i do see alot of camels and goats just not give a schit (i live in the UAE) and cross roads like cars and the danger doesnt exist.
Are these pics omitting the walls and barriers that accompany the road? Most of the roads in the US do not, so im assuming not.
This is interesting and id like to see some statistics on animal related accidents (both to humans and animals)
just some verbal diahhorea.
Are these pics omitting the walls and barriers that accompany the road? Most of the roads in the US do not, so im assuming not.
This is interesting and id like to see some statistics on animal related accidents (both to humans and animals)
just some verbal diahhorea.
12-08-10, 10:49 PM
#4
Lexus Champion
Glad you enjoyed your stay. 
Yes, they do actually work.
But as you pointed out the designs here are tragically flawed in that they don't show the necessary fencing along the roads and on the overpasses that force the animals to use them.
They are just in the process of twinning Highway 1 out to Lake Louise and have built several new wildlife overpasses. Animals are very much habitual. They are placed in areas that are frequent crossing points. To encourage the wildlife further, they use scents to draw the animals to them.
Unfortunately, where I live just outside the gates, I see a deer or elk killed just about every week on the highway where it isn't fenced. The damage that an elk can do is incredible. A close friend of mine hit a female elk last spring in a Denali and it did $26K worth of damage. Thankfully, my buddy and his wife escaped relatively unscathed.
Do these actually work? I know animals are instinctively scared of the road, (they see cars as other creatures) but i do see alot of camels and goats just not give a schit (i live in the UAE) and cross roads like cars and the danger doesnt exist.
Are these pics omitting the walls and barriers that accompany the road? Most of the roads in the US do not, so im assuming not.
This is interesting and id like to see some statistics on animal related accidents (both to humans and animals)
just some verbal diahhorea.
Are these pics omitting the walls and barriers that accompany the road? Most of the roads in the US do not, so im assuming not.
This is interesting and id like to see some statistics on animal related accidents (both to humans and animals)
just some verbal diahhorea.
But as you pointed out the designs here are tragically flawed in that they don't show the necessary fencing along the roads and on the overpasses that force the animals to use them.
They are just in the process of twinning Highway 1 out to Lake Louise and have built several new wildlife overpasses. Animals are very much habitual. They are placed in areas that are frequent crossing points. To encourage the wildlife further, they use scents to draw the animals to them.
Unfortunately, where I live just outside the gates, I see a deer or elk killed just about every week on the highway where it isn't fenced. The damage that an elk can do is incredible. A close friend of mine hit a female elk last spring in a Denali and it did $26K worth of damage. Thankfully, my buddy and his wife escaped relatively unscathed.
12-09-10, 07:04 AM
#6
Out of Warranty
Back when I was in that part of the world you had to be extremely careful driving at night on the highway between Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Camels would come out of the desert and bed down on the road surface for its warmth, and striking a large animal like that was often deadly.
Now lets see if the animals actually use their overpass.
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01-08-11, 09:15 AM
#11
Super Moderator
I've had alligators come across my path when I drive across the Tamiami Trail in Miami. Even down in the Florida Keys (Lower Keys), I have had a Key Deer come across the road. I like when they have certain overpasses where you go over, but there is a tunnel below for the animals.
03-06-11, 07:38 PM
#13
Lexus Champion
This actually was posted in the local paper this week. 
http://www.rmoutlook.com/article/201...modular-design
Finalist design submissions here:
http://www.arc-competition.com/finalists.php
New York firm wins wildlife crossing competition with modular design
The winning entry in the ARC International Wildlife Crossing Infrastructure Design, which will be installed in West Vail Pass, Colorado, can be four-times wider and cost less to build than the 50-metre wildlife overpasses on the Trans-Canada Highway in Banff National Park.
A New York City design firm has won the first ARC International Wildlife Crossing Infrastructure Design competition.
HNTB with Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, Inc. (HNTB+MVVA) won $40,000 for their design that tackled the problem of ensuring humans and wildlife can travel safely in the same spaces through innovative architecture.
The design is intended to cross Interstate 70 in West Vail Pass, located an hour west of Denver, Colorado, as per the direction of the competition’s steering committee.
A jury of five experts unanimously chose the New York firm’s design.
“I think they really met everyone’s expectations,” said Rob Ament, ARC project manager and Road Ecology Program Manager at Montana State University.
The idea behind the competition was to produce innovative designs for functional, cost-effective crossing structures and answer the question of whether overpasses can be built cheaper using recycled and new materials coming onto the market, including plastics and concrete.
The winning design is the most cost-effective, uses modular technology, is easy to construct, provides greater material control, and uses a unique drainage system.
“It was very new ground from an engineering perspective… and it was cost-effective,” said Ament.
Estimates suggest the crossing can be built for roughly half, on a cost per unit basis, of the current cost to build the structures in Banff National Park.
Banff National Park is home to two 50-metre-wide overpasses, located near the Sunshine turnoff and Red Earth Creek, built in 1997 at a cost of $3 million each, and four new overpasses currently under construction on the Trans-Canada Highway are part of the twinning work at a cost of $11 million.
The winning design from HNTB+MVVA has a single span across the highway with no center pier as opposed to the Banff overpasses, which have two single spans with a median in the center. This single span is intended to provide a much safer experience for drivers by creating a more open space. It’s also good from a construction and engineering perspective since the crossing can be built without closing the highway in both directions.
The modular design also allowed for the crossing to be approximately four times wider than the structures in Banff.
“Because it can be so wide, you could have a variety of habitats on the crossing, thus making it of more interest to a whole wide suite of species,” said Ament.
The ARC competition first came about when the steering committee met in October 2008 and its members looked for a site that would fit a series of criteria, including data demonstrating the location is an important wildlife movement area requiring an overpass, the type of species requiring a structure, a transportation agency open to the idea and being near or on federal lands in the U.S. The U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration and the Office of Federal Lands Highway are major funding partners of the project.
The site also had to be on a major highway near a metropolitan centre, which narrowed it down to the site near Denver. Although the Colorado Department of Transportation was heavily involved with the competition, there is no guarantee the winning wildlife crossing design will be used when the new highway is built. But Ament was confident the design will be incorporated into future projects in the area.
Now that the winning design has been chosen, Phase Three of the project is to create an educational and outreach component. ARC is currently raising money to produce a video with interviews from all designers to hear about their challenges in designing the crossings, said Ament.
The designs are also going to be featured in upcoming magazine articles, at conferences, and the steering committee is authoring articles for professional journals. Ament hopes to see museums and other institutions host exhibitions on the competition designs, as well. It’s all part of an effort to give this information not only to practitioners in transportation and ecology, but also to the general public, said Ament.
Parks Canada has also expressed interested in meeting with all five finalists to help in the design of new wildlife crossings over key sections along the Trans-Canada Highway through the Canadian Rockies.
The winning entry in the ARC International Wildlife Crossing Infrastructure Design, which will be installed in West Vail Pass, Colorado, can be four-times wider and cost less to build than the 50-metre wildlife overpasses on the Trans-Canada Highway in Banff National Park.
A New York City design firm has won the first ARC International Wildlife Crossing Infrastructure Design competition.
HNTB with Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, Inc. (HNTB+MVVA) won $40,000 for their design that tackled the problem of ensuring humans and wildlife can travel safely in the same spaces through innovative architecture.
The design is intended to cross Interstate 70 in West Vail Pass, located an hour west of Denver, Colorado, as per the direction of the competition’s steering committee.
A jury of five experts unanimously chose the New York firm’s design.
“I think they really met everyone’s expectations,” said Rob Ament, ARC project manager and Road Ecology Program Manager at Montana State University.
The idea behind the competition was to produce innovative designs for functional, cost-effective crossing structures and answer the question of whether overpasses can be built cheaper using recycled and new materials coming onto the market, including plastics and concrete.
The winning design is the most cost-effective, uses modular technology, is easy to construct, provides greater material control, and uses a unique drainage system.
“It was very new ground from an engineering perspective… and it was cost-effective,” said Ament.
Estimates suggest the crossing can be built for roughly half, on a cost per unit basis, of the current cost to build the structures in Banff National Park.
Banff National Park is home to two 50-metre-wide overpasses, located near the Sunshine turnoff and Red Earth Creek, built in 1997 at a cost of $3 million each, and four new overpasses currently under construction on the Trans-Canada Highway are part of the twinning work at a cost of $11 million.
The winning design from HNTB+MVVA has a single span across the highway with no center pier as opposed to the Banff overpasses, which have two single spans with a median in the center. This single span is intended to provide a much safer experience for drivers by creating a more open space. It’s also good from a construction and engineering perspective since the crossing can be built without closing the highway in both directions.
The modular design also allowed for the crossing to be approximately four times wider than the structures in Banff.
“Because it can be so wide, you could have a variety of habitats on the crossing, thus making it of more interest to a whole wide suite of species,” said Ament.
The ARC competition first came about when the steering committee met in October 2008 and its members looked for a site that would fit a series of criteria, including data demonstrating the location is an important wildlife movement area requiring an overpass, the type of species requiring a structure, a transportation agency open to the idea and being near or on federal lands in the U.S. The U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration and the Office of Federal Lands Highway are major funding partners of the project.
The site also had to be on a major highway near a metropolitan centre, which narrowed it down to the site near Denver. Although the Colorado Department of Transportation was heavily involved with the competition, there is no guarantee the winning wildlife crossing design will be used when the new highway is built. But Ament was confident the design will be incorporated into future projects in the area.
Now that the winning design has been chosen, Phase Three of the project is to create an educational and outreach component. ARC is currently raising money to produce a video with interviews from all designers to hear about their challenges in designing the crossings, said Ament.
The designs are also going to be featured in upcoming magazine articles, at conferences, and the steering committee is authoring articles for professional journals. Ament hopes to see museums and other institutions host exhibitions on the competition designs, as well. It’s all part of an effort to give this information not only to practitioners in transportation and ecology, but also to the general public, said Ament.
Parks Canada has also expressed interested in meeting with all five finalists to help in the design of new wildlife crossings over key sections along the Trans-Canada Highway through the Canadian Rockies.
Finalist design submissions here:
http://www.arc-competition.com/finalists.php
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