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Linking Statewide Connectivity Planning to Highway Mitigation: Taking the Next Step in Linking

Abstract

Statewide connectivity planning represents an important first step for informing the transportation planning process at the statewide and regional levels. However, without finer scale assessment, such broad-scale planning does not provide sufficient information for integration into project-level designs. The Linking Colorado’s Landscapes project – designated as a 2006 Exemplary Ecosystem Initiative by the Federal Highway Administration – was initiated in 2003 to identify, prioritize, and assess wildlife movement linkages throughout Colorado. The project developed as a collaborative effort between the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT), the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the Southern Rockies Ecosystem Project (SREP). Under this unique partnership, a FHWA grant enabled CDOT to contract with SREP for the development of a connectivity assessment in Colorado. This arrangement has facilitated CDOT’s consideration of landscape-scale permeability for wildlife while addressing the state’s transportation needs and environmental stewardship objectives.

Linking Colorado’s Landscapes consisted of two phases: a statewide assessment of broad-scale wildlife linkages, and an in-depth assessment of twelve of the highest priority linkages. Now complete, the challenge for the project partners lies in integrating both the vision for a connected landscape and the more detailed recommendations into all levels of transportation development – from long range transportation plans to on-the-ground transportation projects. This paper describes the methods and opportunities for implementing the vision as well as the site-specific recommendations provided in Linking Colorado’s Landscapes.

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