By Caroline Carpenter / ADOT Communications

It's no secret that: (1) the Arizona desert is home to many types of animals; and (2) ADOT builds highways.

What may not be as well-known is the many things ADOT does in partnership with other agencies to keep animals and vehicles apart. That ranges from US 93 overpasses for desert bighorn sheep near Hoover Dam to fencing and underpasses for elk and deer along State Route 260 east of Payson.

This video highlights one such effort, focusing on the desert tortoise. Please check it out.

A little dog that made her way onto SR 51 during Monday evening’s rush hour and miraculously avoided being hit by traffic now has a good home in her future.

Of course dogs don’t belong on the freeway, but this pup didn’t know that…

She was spotted on camera at about 6:15 p.m. by ADOT operators at the Traffic Operations Center.

“We watched her run across the northbound lanes of SR 51,” said ADOT Public Information Officer Caroline Carpenter. “Next, she started running southbound in the northbound lanes next to the median wall for a while. Then we watched her try to jump onto the median wall. After many tries, she finally made it.”

The dog was spotted on camera by TOC operators.

Gil Estrada, a traffic reporter who works out of the TOC, was able to pick the dog up and bring her back. From there, Jayson Winter, one of ADOT’s TOC operators, took the dog to an emergency veterinarian who gave her an exam and confirmed she wasn’t microchipped.

With no microchip and no collar, there was no way to tell who this dog might belong to, so Winter took her home for the night and ADOT’s Twitter Team put the word out through social media. A number of news media outlets became interested and helped to spread the story.

“The whole idea was to try and find the owners,” says Tom Herrmann, a member of ADOT’s public information team who is based at the TOC.

As of this moment, no one has claimed the dog, but many other people have come forward. From well-wishers on Twitter to offers of adoption on Facebook, the response has been amazing.

ADOT Traffic operator Jayson Winter took care of the dog overnight after she was rescued from SR 51.

The Arizona Equine Rescue Organization heard about the story and offered to provide a safe, quiet home for the dog while her owners are being located. If the owner cannot be found, AERO will facilitate finding the right home for the pup, which they’ve decided to call Dottie (you know, as a shoutout to ADOT)!

As happy as this ending is, we can’t forget that many animals who gain access to the freeway system aren’t as lucky as Dottie.

Drivers who see a dog (or any other type of animal) on the highway should call 911. Motorists should NOT get out of their vehicles and attempt to capture the animal, as that could pose a danger to themselves and other drivers.

Revisit our previous post for more information on how to keep your pets safe and out of the roadway. If you’re in the mood for another animal rescue story, you can read about the time two ADOT employees rescued a dog from SR 260.

By Dustin Krugel
ADOT Office of Public Information

The Arizona Department of Transportation, which has been nationally recognized for its creative and innovative solutions to promote safe travel while protecting wildlife and connecting ecosystems, received another accolade for its leadership in developing wildlife crossing structures in Arizona.

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration recently awarded ADOT and its partner Animal Road Crossing Solutions this year’s Environmental Excellence Award for Excellence in Environmental Leadership.

Arizona has long been considered a leader in wildlife connectivity issues. ADOT and multiple partner agencies, including the Arizona Game and Fish Department, collaborated to construct wildlife underpasses and elk crossings along State Route 260 east of Payson and desert bighorn sheep overpasses near historic Hoover Dam on US 93.

“ADOT has a long record of innovative and successful wildlife accommodations as part of construction projects,” said ADOT Director John Halikowski. “While ADOT is not a wildlife-management agency, we are a transportation safety agency and we partner with other agencies, such as the Arizona Game and Fish Department, in an effort to preserve and protect wildlife, while reducing vehicle-wildlife collisions.”

According to data collected by the Arizona Game and Fish Department, more than 15,000 crossings by 16 species of animals were recorded at six underpasses along SR 260 in Arizona over a seven-year period. In addition, more than 4,300 desert bighorn sheep crossed three overpasses on US 93 in Arizona in a two-year span.

In addition to preserving wildlife, these specialized crossings protect drivers from crashes with some of the state’s big game.

A fencing project linking three existing crossing structures on SR 260 reduced elk-vehicle collisions by 98 percent over a six-year span.

Wildlife crossing structures and fencing can greatly lessen the impact of traffic because, together, they provide safe linkages across highways, helping ensure stable local and regional wildlife populations.

Selected by an independent panel, the Environmental Excellence Award is the Federal Highway Administration’s biennial recognition of innovative efforts to preserve the environment while enhancing America’s highways.

“Building a 21st-century transportation system that is cost-efficient and protects the environment requires creativity and innovation,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. “These awards demonstrate FHWA’s support of projects that approach current and future transportation challenges with new solutions.”

Additional information about the 2015 Environmental Excellence Award recipients can be found online.

We’ve got a fascinating video to share with you today that shows the installation of a wildlife underpass on SR 86.

This particular underpass consists of 15 total pre-cast arches, each weighing in at about 22 tons (in case you’re wondering why you don’t see each of those 15 arches, the time-lapse video shows the installation of just one side of the underpass).

The precast arches were dropped into place, but not until quite a bit of work beforehand...

The underpass installation, which was also part of a widening project along SR 86, took place after crews constructed traffic detour, completed excavation and poured the footers and foundation.

If this video grabs your interest, you’ll want to stay tuned. Next week, we have a more in-depth video and blog post coming your way about wildlife crossings.

Transportation planners and engineers have a lot to consider when designing or improving a roadway in Arizona.

It’s not just about getting people from one place to the next – safety, planning priorities, community concerns, fiscal constraints all get taken into account (along with so many other factors).

There’s also a big relationship between transportation planning and the environment. In fact, that connection is so important that it’s the focus of a pretty big conference being held in Arizona this week…

The International Conference on Ecology and Transportation focuses on that correlation while showcasing research and best practices from the field. Held every two years, ICOET brings the participation of hundreds of transportation and ecology professionals from the U.S. and countries worldwide.

You might remember that we blogged about the conference nearly two years ago when it was first announced ADOT, along with the Arizona Game and Fish Department, would host this year’s event.

Hosting the conference gives our state some really good exposure and the chance to show how ADOT and its partners not only build and maintain Arizona’s transportation system, but do so in a way that is sensitive to the surrounding environment.

Arizona’s wide range of ecology makes it an ideal state to host the International Conference on Ecology and Transportation. State transportation planners must take into account diverse wildlife populations and varied topography in the low and high desert plateaus as well as rocky and tree-covered mountain terrain when planning Arizona’s highway system.

During ICOET, ADOT and Game and Fish will have the opportunity to showcase joint efforts that consider the environment during the planning and building stages of transportation infrastructure. One such effort was the construction of wildlife crossing bridges and culverts as part of improvements along US 93 near the Nevada state line to reduce the number of collisions between vehicles and desert bighorn sheep. Conference participants will also learn more about wildlife crossings along SR 260, context-sensitive highway improvements in Sedona and sustainability and preservation efforts for transportation solutions at Grand Canyon National Park.

To learn more about ADOT’s efforts, check out our previous blog posts. For additional information on this year’s conference, visit icoet.net.

We just got some really exciting news about the US 93 project (you remember, it’s the one that improved about 15 miles of roadway south of the Hoover Dam – we wrote about it here and here…

It was announced yesterday that the project won a regional award in the 2012 America’s Transportation Awards competition – more specifically, the project was selected as the winner in the “Best Use of Innovation, Medium Project” category!

The America’s Transportation Awards competition is sponsored by AASHTO, AAA and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. It was created in 2008 to recognize outstanding transportation projects accomplished each year by state Departments of Transportation.

Besides “Best Use of Innovation” other categories include “Ahead of Schedule” and “Under Budget.” All the categories are divided by size, depending on the cost of the project.

Arizona’s award was announced during the annual Western Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (WASHTO) conference. California, Nevada, Colorado, Washington and Texas also were recognized with awards.

Some background on the project
ADOT and its project team – including Federal Highway Administration, Arizona Game and Fish Department, National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, AMEC Environment and Infrastructure, Bureau of Reclamation and FNF Construction – recognized a critical need for creative innovation during early design work preparing for the highway widening of the last segment from Interstate 40 in Kingman to the new Hoover Dam bypass bridge.

Collectively, they decided the best solution was to construct new overpasses that protected the safety of motorists and provided a passage for the desert bighorn sheep.

“ADOT and its partnering agencies worked together to achieve a common goal, which was to build a safe, modern four-lane highway for motorists, that also accounted for the unique challenges presented by the state’s geography and wildlife that make that area their home,” said ADOT Director John Halikowski.

In late 2010, ADOT completed construction of the $71.3 million project, which widened the existing roadway section from two lanes to four. Other significant highway improvements included a new trailhead, scenic overlooks and three wildlife crossings, which not only provide a crossing for the native desert bighorn sheep, but also protection for motorists.

ADOT has dedicated nearly half a billion dollars since 1998 to widen and improve US 93 from Wickenburg to the Hoover Dam. The long-term vision is to transform this route into a four-lane divided highway through its entire 200-mile stretch.

          Photos courtesy of the Arizona Game and Fish Department

Over the past several years, ADOT has worked to transform the highly traveled US 93 between Wickenburg to the Hoover Dam from a two-lane highway to an environmentally friendly four-lane, divided highway.

A project of this scale will always present its share of issues, but widening the final section – from Kingman to the Mike O’Callaghan - Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge – provided ADOT with an especially unique challenge …

That final stretch also happened to be the stomping grounds of the country’s largest contiguous herd of desert bighorn sheep.

Without some sort of solution, motorist safety would be at risk from the substantially increased chance of wildlife-vehicle collisions. But the sheep still needed to be able to cross the highway in order to reach essential resources on both sides.

Wildlife overpasses were thought to be the obvious fix … but, where should they be built along this 15-miles of new roadway?

To answer that question, ADOT worked with a number of state and federal agencies in a collaborative partnership to seek locations where the sheep were most likely to cross the highway. The Arizona Game and Fish Department, National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management and the Federal Highway Administration were all part of the effort.

The team was able to track the animals by placing electronic collars on them and using global positioning system tracking units to trace their movements over an extended period of time.

This research helped identify the most appropriate crossing locations for the herd. Three specially designed overpasses for bighorn sheep – the first of their kind in Arizona and the lower 48 states – were constructed, along with fencing, as part of the highway expansion.

The project has been successful. Cameras installed on the crossing bridges captured the desert bighorn sheep using the new overpasses, which are 100-feet wide and 203-feet long and the Federal Highway Administration awarded ADOT one of its top environmental honors, the 2011 Exemplary Ecosystem Initiative Award, for the successful completion of this project.

ADOT’s Director of Environmental Services Todd Williams says the project was truly a joint effort of the multiple agencies involved.

“Without their support and teamwork, we would not have been able to accomplish as much as we did,” he said. “This new section of divided highway in this environmentally sensitive area delicately addressed two critical issues: the safety of the traveling public and the need to preserve the livelihood of the Desert Bighorn Sheep, which are native to the Black Mountains. These new wildlife overpasses helped accomplish both objectives on this project.”