This research evaluates the effectiveness of the SH 9 Colorado River South Wildlife & Safety Improvement Project, including two wildlife overpasses, and five wildlife underpasses connected with 10.4 miles of wildlife exclusion fencing in Grand County, CO. The project was designed to improve driver safety while allowing for wildlife movement across the road. This study uses motion-activated cameras and WVC crash and carcass data to determine how successful the mitigation measures are. In addition to the crossing structures, deer guards, escape ramps, pedestrian walk-through gates and the fence end are being monitored.
The ongoing deterioration of highway bridges in Colorado dictates that an effective method for allocating limited management resources be developed. In order to predict bridge deterioration in advance, mechanistic models that analyze the physical processes causing deterioration are capable of supplementing purely statistical models and addressing limitations associated with bridge inspection data and statistical methods. A review of existing analytical models in the literature was conducted. A mechanistic model was developed to predict corrosion and concrete cracking as a function of material and environmental inputs.
Following this extreme weather event, one of many that Colorado has experienced, the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) sought to identify design alternatives that would increase the resilience of the affected sites. In particular, they sought to address their vulnerabilities to future shock events through comprehensive analysis and integrated design approaches, which help mitigate and minimize future losses.
