New Approaches to Ecological Surveys (2009)

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TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH BOARD WASHINGTON, D.C. 2009 www.TRB.org NAT IONAL COOPERAT IVE H IGHWAY RESEARCH PROGRAM NCHRP SyntheSiS 400 Research Sponsored by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials in Cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration Subject AreAS Planning and Administration and Highway and Facility Design New Approaches to Ecological Surveys A Synthesis of Highway Practice conSultAnt PATRICIA C. CRAMER Utah State University Logan, Utah

NATIONAL COOPERATIVE HIGHWAY RESEARCH PROGRAM Systematic, well-designed research provides the most effective approach to the solution of many problems facing highway administra- tors and engineers. Often, highway problems are of local interest and can best be studied by highway departments individually or in coop- eration with their state universities and others. However, the accelerat- ing growth of highway transportation develops increasingly complex problems of wide interest to highway authorities. These problems are best studied through a coordinated program of cooperative research. In recognition of these needs, the highway administrators of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials initiated in 1962 an objective national highway research program employing modern scientific techniques. This program is supported on a continuing basis by funds from participating member states of the Association and it receives the full cooperation and support of the Federal Highway Administration, United States Department of Trans- portation. The Transportation Research Board of the National Research Coun- cil was requested by the Association to administer the research pro- gram because of the Board’s recognized objectivity and understanding of modern research practices. The Board is uniquely suited for this purpose as it maintains an extensive committee structure from which authorities on any highway transportation subject may be drawn; it possesses avenues of communication and cooperation with federal, state, and local governmental agencies, universities, and industry; its relationship to the National Research Council is an insurance of objec- tivity; it maintains a full-time research correlation staff of specialists in highway transportation matters to bring the findings of research directly to those who are in a position to use them. The program is developed on the basis of research needs identified by chief administrators of the highway and transportation departments and by committees of AASHTO. Each year, specific areas of research needs to be included in the program are proposed to the National Research Council and the Board by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. Research projects to fulfill these needs are defined by the Board, and qualified research agencies are selected from those that have submitted proposals. Administration and surveillance of research contracts are the responsibilities of the National Research Council and the Transportation Research Board. The needs for highway research are many, and the National Coop- erative Highway Research Program can make significant contributions to the solution of highway transportation problems of mutual concern to many responsible groups. The program, however, is intended to complement rather than to substitute for or duplicate other highway research programs. NOTE: The Transportation Research Board of the National Acad- emies, the National Research Council, the Federal Highway Adminis- tration, the American Association of State Highway and Transporta- tion Officials, and the individual states participating in the National Cooperative Highway Research Program do not endorse products or manufacturers. Trade or manufacturers’ names appear herein solely because they are considered essential to the object of this report. NCHRP SYNTHESIS 400 Project 20-5 (Topic 39-12) ISSN 0547-5570 ISBN 978-0-309-09843-4 Library of Congress Control No. 2009928790 © 2009 Transportation Research Board COPYRIGHT PERMISSION Authors herein are responsible for the authenticity of their manuscripts and for obtaining written permissions from publishers or persons who own the copyright to any previously published or copyrighted material used herein. 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Such approval reflects the Governing Board’s judgment that the program concerned is of national impor- tance and appropriate with respect to both the purposes and resources of the National Research Council. The members of the technical committee selected to monitor this project and to review this report were chosen for recognized scholarly competence and with due consideration for the balance of disciplines appropriate to the project. The opinions and conclusions expressed or implied are those of the research agency that performed the research, and, while they have been accepted as appropriate by the technical com- mittee, they are not necessarily those of the Transportation Research Board, the National Research Council, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, or the Federal Highway Administration of the U.S. Department of Transportation. 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