Western Transportation Institute
Permanent URI for this communityhttps://scholarworks.montana.edu/handle/1/35
The Western Transportation Institute is the country's largest National University Transportation Center focused on rural transportation issues.
Because we live and work in rural communities, we understand the critical roles rural transportation plays in the lives of people, in the environment and in the economy.
We draw from our eight integrated research groups to create solutions that work for our clients, sponsors and rural transportation research partners. WTI focuses on rural issues, but some of our program areas also address the concerns of the urban environment. Whatever the objective, we bring innovation and expertise to each WTI transportation research project.
WTI's main facility with its state-of-the-art labs is adjacent to the Montana State University campus in Bozeman, Montana. We have additional offices in Alberta, Canada, and central Washington, and a large testing facility in rural Montana near Lewistown. Contact us to find out how to address your rural transportation research needs.
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Item US-191/MT-64 Wildlife & Transportation Assessment(Center for large Landscape Conservation, 2023-11) Fairbank, Elizabeth; Penrod, Kristeen; Wearn, Anna; Blank, Matt; Bell, Matthew; Huijser, Marcel; Ament, Rob; Fick, Damon; Breuer, Abigail; Hance, BradenThe US Highway 191 (US-191)/Montana Highway 64 (MT-64) Wildlife & Transportation Assessment (the “Assessment”) improves understanding of the issues affecting driver safety, wildlife mortality, and wildlife movement along the major routes that connect Yellowstone National Park, the Custer Gallatin National Forest, and other public lands to the growing population centers of Bozeman, Big Sky, and nearby communities in Southwest Montana. By engaging personnel from multiple federal, state, and local agencies along with key stakeholders to examine problems and possibilities through the lens of spatial ecology, the US-191/MT-64 Wildlife & Transportation Assessment brings new insight into the impact of two major roads that unite local communities yet divide the landscape and natural habitats. The information included in this report should inform and support area communities and agency decision-makers to select and pursue wildlife accommodation options. With the passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021, significant funds for wildlife accommodation measures are available nationwide on a competitive basis. The US-191/MT-64 Wildlife & Transportation Assessment better equips part of Southwest Montana’s gateway to Yellowstone National Park to take advantage of new funding opportunities.Item Animal Vehicle Collision Reduction and Habitat Connectivity Cost Effective Solutions - Final Report(Nevada Department of Transportation, 2022-07) Ament, Rob; Huijser, Marcel; May, DanaWildlife-vehicle collisions (WVCs) are a significant component of overall crashes in the US and Canada. Roads and their traffic also create partial or total barriers to the movement of wildlife, both large and small. There are several well-studied proven mitigation measures that significantly reduce WVCs, provide for safe animal passage across roads, and maintain habitat connectivity. Highly effective measures, such as overpasses and underpasses with fencing can reduce large animal WVCs by over 80% – 100% on average; yet these structures can be costly and there is room for improvement in their design, the use of new materials, adding elements that improve their use by smaller animal species, such as reptiles and amphibians and improving their cost effectiveness. This Transportation Pooled Fund Study, TPF-5(358) (TPF Study), allowed researchers to evaluate the latest information on the effectiveness of 24 different highway mitigation measures designed to decrease collisions with large wildlife, large feral and domestic animals. Also reviewed were these same measures’ ability to protect small mammals, reptiles, and amphibians from collisions. The TPF Study also explored the effectiveness of the 24 measures ability to maintain or enhance habitat connectivity. It conducted 11 different research projects that variously explored a) the costs and benefits of animal-vehicle collisions and the mitigation measures that seek to reduce them, b) the ecological effectiveness of various mitigation measures, and 3) new designs for crossing structures for a variety of species. The project developed a manual of best practices and concluded with a final report.Item Long-term responses of an ecological community to highway mitigation measures(Nevada Department of Transportation, 2022-07) Ford, Adam T.; Huijser, Marcel; Clevenger, Anthony P.In road mitigation systems characterized by multiple wildlife crossing structures (CS) and multiple-focal species, these species-specific design criteria are important to meeting management goals. CS types and locations are fixed in place and cannot be manipulated experimentally; long term studies may offer the best chance to inform evidence-based designs for new CS projects in the future. Long-term data from Banff National Park are uniquely posed to answer these critical questions. More recently, highway mitigation along US93 in Montana provides an additional case study with which to understand the responses of large animals to different CS designs. The purpose of this study is to identify factors affecting movement of large mammals through CS using data sets from both mitigation projects. Year-round monitoring of CS use was used in an analytical framework to address questions regarding species-specific and community level use of CS; design and habitat factors that best explain species-specific variation; and whether importance of design parameters changes over time. Over the 17 years of the Banff study, and the six years of the Montana study, CS facilitated over 200,000 crossing events at 55 locations. There were significant changes in annual crossing events over time. Variables associated with CS passage rates were species specific, but aligned with a few clusters of preference. With the exception of coyotes, all large carnivore species preferred open span bridges or overpasses to other CS types. In Montana, fencing was positively associated with passage rates for black bears and cougars. We found that wider CS tend to be preferred by most species, irrespective of their location. We also found that wider CS tend to have shorter ‘adaptation’ curves than narrower ones for grizzly bears, coyotes, cougars, and moose. Depending on the heterogeneity of the landscape near the highway, more CS may not create more crossing opportunities if local habitat conditions do not favor animals’ access to the road. At the scale of ecological communities, the flows of mass and energy are likely enough to alter the distribution of ecological processes in the Banff and Montana ecosystems. Our results highlight the value of long-term monitoring for assessing the effectiveness of mitigation measures. Our work confirms the species-specific nature of measure CS performance, leading to our primary recommendation that a diversity of CS designs be considered an essential part of a well-designed mitigation system for the large mammals of western North America. Short-term monitoring efforts may fail to accurately portray the ecological benefits of mitigation for populations and ecological communities. Our results will help to inform design and aid in the establishment of robust, long-term performance measures.Item Modified jump-outs for white-tailed deer and mule deer(Nevada Department of Transportation, 2022-09) Huijser, Marcel; Getty, S.C.The height of the jump-outs should be low enough for the target species to readily jump down to the safe side, or the habitat side, of the fence. At the same time, the jump-outs should be high enough to discourage animals that are on the habitat side of the fence from jumping up into the fenced road corridor. Previous research along US Hwy 93 North in Montana showed that only about 32% of the mule deer and about 7% of the white-tailed deer that appeared on top of the jump-outs, jumped down to safety. For this project, 10 of the jump-outs along US Hwy 93 North were lowered in height and provided with a bar on top. The height of the bars (made from rebar) and their setback from the vertical face of the jump-outs was adjustable and the researchers applied 4 different treatments: 2 different heights (18 and 15 inches) and 3 different setbacks (4, 12, and 15 inches). The overall effectiveness of the lowered jump-outs in allowing white-tailed deer to jump down, regardless of the height and setback of the bar, was only just above 5% (no improvement). For mule deer the effectiveness of the lowered jump-outs in allowing them to jump down, regardless of the height and setback of the bar, was about 64% (this was double the effectiveness of non-modified jump-outs).Item Improving Connectivity: Innovative Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Structures for Wildlife, Bicyclists, and/or Pedestrians(Nevada Department of Transportation, 2022-09) Bell, Matthew; Ament, Rob; Fick, Damon; Huijser, MarcelEngineers and ecologists continue to explore new methods and adapt existing techniques to improve highway mitigation measures that increase motorist safety and conserve wildlife species. Crossing structures, overpasses and underpasses, combined with fences, are some of the most highly effective mitigation measures employed around the world to reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions (WVCs) with large animals, increase motorist safety, and maintain habitat connectivity across transportation networks for many other types and sizes of wildlife. Published research on structural designs and materials for wildlife crossings is limited and suggests relatively little innovation has occurred. Wildlife crossing structures for large mammals are crucial for many highway mitigation strategies, so there is a need for new, resourceful, and innovative techniques to construct these structures. This report explored the promising application of fiber-reinforced polymers (FRPs) to a wildlife crossing using an overpass. The use of FRP composites has increased due to their high strength and light weight characteristics, long service life, and low maintenance costs. They are highly customizable in shape and geometry and the materials used (e.g., resins and fibers) in their manufacture. This project explored what is known about FRP bridge structures and what commercial materials are available in North America that can be adapted for use in a wildlife crossing using an overpass structure. A 12-mile section of US Highway 97 (US-97) in Siskiyou County, California was selected as the design location. Working with the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) and California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), a site was selected for the FRP overpass design where it would help reduce WVCs and provide habitat connectivity. The benefits of a variety of FRP materials have been incorporated into the US-97 crossing design, including in the superstructure, concrete reinforcement, fencing, and light/sound barriers on the overpass. Working with Caltrans helped identify the challenges and limitations of using FRP materials for bridge construction in California. The design was used to evaluate the life cycle costs (LCCs) of using FRP materials for wildlife infrastructure compared to traditional materials (e.g., concrete, steel, and wood). The preliminary design of an FRP wildlife overpass at the US-97 site provides an example of a feasible, efficient, and constructible alternative to the use of conventional steel and concrete materials. The LCC analysis indicated the preliminary design using FRP materials could be more cost effective over a 100-year service life than ones using traditional materials.Item Valuing Wildlife Crossings and Enhancements for Mitigation Credits(National Academy of Sciences, 2020-01) Samanns, Edward; Baigas, Phil; Ament, Robert; Huijser, MarcelThis report summarizes the activities conducted as part of National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) 25-25, Task 117, Valuing Wildlife Crossing and Enhancements for Mitigation Credits. Mitigation crediting could provide a valuation approach that state DOTs could use to promote the construction of wildlife crossings and other enhancements to mitigate transportation project impacts. The two objectives of this research are to: • Collect and synthesize current information on valuation methods, metrics, criteria for credit development, and crediting mechanisms used by state DOTs and their partners for calculating and applying mitigation and advance mitigation credits for wildlife connectivity improvements. • Identify existing and potential quantitative methods and approaches for establishing the mitigation values of wildlife overpasses, underpasses, bridges, and culverts for habitat connectivity, and how that value is translated to mitigation credits. The full report can be found at: http://www.trb.org/Main/Blurbs/180347.aspx