MODELING AND MITIGATING HIGHWAY TRAFFIC NOISE AND LIGHT FOR WILDLIFE MOVEMENT

Benjamin Hodgson; Road Ecology Center at the University of California, Davis; bjhodgson@ucdavis.edu; Dave Waetjen, Shannon Lemieux, Lorna Haworth, Laura Morris, Leo Hecht, Fraser Shilling

Anthropogenic noise and light impact wildlife behavior, distribution, movement, reproduction, and population fitness. Traffic noise and light can inhibit wildlife use of areas adjacent to roads, impair wildlife perception of traffic risks, and cause barrier effects to wildlife occurrence and movement well beyond roads. Planning the location and design of new wildlife crossings and enhancements of existing structures currently does not account for traffic-disturbance impacts on wildlife approaching the structures. We developed statewide (CA) models of vehicle noise and light intrusion into areas adjacent to roads to quantify impacts and aid in locating and designing wildlife crossings with limited traffic disturbance. We used GIS programs to model noise and light landscapes at high-resolution (10 or 30 m) within at least 1 km of all California state highways. We tested the models at multiple highways (I-8, I-10, US101, SR152) using noise and illumination sensors. For select proposed (US395 & SR152) and built (US97 & I-10) wildlife crossings, we computationally designed barriers that reduced (noise and light) or eliminated (light) disturbance within the wildlife crossing approach zone. We used common barrier designs to model dark and quiet paths to crossing structures, demonstrating a planning approach that can be applied to other highway crossing sites.

Transportation Ecology 
Wednesday 4:50 PM