Reducing Wildlife-Vehicle Collisions 1995-2013
Mark Watson Habitat Specialist
Division of Ecological and Environmental Planning
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012
Collisions 2002-2011
2002-2011 Large Game Animal-Vehicle Collision Accident Report Data
Species Collisions
Deer 7460
Elk 1839
Pronghorn 150
Bear 135
Cougar 8
Game Animal
93
9685 total reports
U.S. 550 Deer Fencing Project Animas River to Colorado
BEFORE
AFTER
House Joint Memorial 3 and Tijeras Canyon Safe Passage Project
3 underpasses with 2 years of track monitoring. All underpasses used by mule deer.
U.S. 64 Monero to Lumberton (west of Chama)
Construction and Maintenance Challenges
2011 HJM 10 Wildlife Safety Zone U.S. 64/84
Top Five Road Segments Collisions 2006-2010
I-25 Raton Pass 83
U.S. 70 Ruidoso Downs-Hondo 77
U.S. 50 Cuba to NM Hwy 537 73
U.S. 64 Tierra Amarilla-Chama 60
U.S. 70 Tularosa to Bent 56
Senate Memorial 11/House Memorial 1 Workshop May 2013
NM State Police Survey Identified 150 locations
May workshop identified 38 highway segments
Senate Memorial 11 / House Memorial 1
825
632 505 450 418 410 345 278 229 198 184 183 170 149 129 129 127 115 105 103 96 75
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
US 64 US 70 I-25 US 550 US 82 US 285US 180NM 90US 380 I-40 US 84 NM 48 US 54 NM537
NM 44 US 60 NM522
NM 53 US 62 NM170
NM152
NM518
Roads with Highest No. of Collisions 2002-2011
39 37
25 24
16 14 13 12 11 11 10 9 9 8
5
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
US 70 US 64 I-25 US 285 US 550 US 54 NM 44 US 180 I-40 NM 53 NM 90 US 82 US 60 US 380 US 84
Roads with Highest No. of Collision-related Visible Injuries 2002-2011
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
230 240 250 260 270 280 290 300 310 320 330
US 70 No. of Collisions Between MP 230-330, 2002-2011
MP 239 Nogal Canyon/Tularosa Creek
4 1 1 3 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0
16
6 5 0 1 0 0
62 58
40
48
30
82
43 44
32 27
1
9 4 7 7
11
0 4
13
3
12
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500
US 70 number of collisions by milepost 2002-2011
Nogal Canyon
Texas
Hondo
Hondo
Organ Mts
Senate Memorial 11 / House Memorial 1
Senate Memorial 11 / House Memorial 1
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012
US 64 No. of Collisions MP 60-69 Bloomfield Area
10-Year Trends
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012
US 180 No. of Collisions MP 116-119 East of Silver City
0.0
2.0
4.0
6.0
8.0
10.0
12.0
2,001 2,002 2,003 2,004 2,005 2,006 2,007 2,008 2,009 2,010 2,011 2,012
US 70 No. of Collisions MP 239-240 Nogal Canyon Tularosa Creek Area
Senate Memorial 11 / House Memorial 1
15 Highways Evaluating for HSIP Funding Proposal 2013
NM 90 Silver City-Lordsburg U.S. 180 south of Cliff
U.S. 70 Tularosa to Bent US 70 Ruidoso Downs-Hondo
U.S. 82 Cloudcroft NM 48 Ruidoso to Capitan
I-40/NM 333 Tijeras Canyon (unfenced portion)
I-40 Zuzax to SR 306
I-25 Raton Pass I-25 Glorieta
US 64 Chama to 64/84 junct. NM 522 Arroyo Hondo to CO
I-40 Thoreau U.S. 550 Cuba to NM 537
NM 12 Apache Creek
Openness Factor = (H) x (W) / (L)
Acknowledgements Thanks to Coleman Burnett, Chris Cudia and all of the
NMDOT Environmental Bureau staff involved in implementing Senate Memorial 11