A recent international design competition sought innovative and attractive solutions for allowing wildlife to cross busy highways. The winning designs take various strategies to go over or under the traffic.
Lisa Rochon explains the impetus behind the design competition, "...when animals wander blindly onto highways, the results can be devastating. There's the sad, ugly loss of life, of course (mostly of wild animals, but occasionally of humans as well). But there's also a more literal price tag. In the United States, the cost is estimated at $8-billion (U.S.) a year in insurance claims and car repairs. In Canada, damages are pegged at about $250-million annually, according to the Western Transportation Institute at Montana State University."
HNTB with Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, Inc contributed the winning design, but finalists Janet Rosenberg & Associates of Toronto contributed this eyecatching design:
FULL STORY: Across the great divide
Massachusetts Gov. Makes Case for Road Funding Reforms
A package of proposed bills would change the state’s road funding formula to ensure more money flows to rural areas with limited resources.
Texas Infrastructure Gets a ‘C’
The American Society of Civil Engineers rates states in 16 categories related to transportation, water, waste management, parks, and more.
Defunct Streetcar Bridge Could Become Cleveland’s ‘Low Line’
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How architecture and urban landscapes reflect the trauma and dysfunction of the post-war experience.
‘Complete Streets’ Webpage Deleted in Federal Purge
Basic resources and information on building bike lanes and sidewalks, formerly housed on the government’s Complete Streets website, are now gone.
The VW Bus is Back — Now as an Electric Minivan
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Healing Through Parks: Altadena’s Path to Recovery After the Eaton Fire
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San Diego to Rescind Multi-Unit ADU Rule
The city wants to close a loophole that allowed developers to build apartment buildings on single-family lots as ADUs.
Electric Vehicles for All? Study Finds Disparities in Access and Incentives
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Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
City of Albany
UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
City of Piedmont, CA
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research