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Glossary
AASHTO--The American Association of State Highway general guidance in up-to-date techniques for road plan-
Transportation Officials is a nonprofit, nonpartisan asso- ning, construction, maintenance, and monitoring. Tax
ciation representing highway and transportation depart- dollars that come from a state's fuel tax are returned to
ments in the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the states through FHWA with specific instructions on
Puerto Rico. Its primary goal is to foster development, the projects they are to be spent on, usually with match-
operation, and maintenance of an integrated national ing state money.
transportation system. Much of AASHTO's work is done
GIS--Geographic information systems are basically maps
by committees composed of member department of
in computers. GIS software allows data about the earth,
transportation personnel who serve voluntarily. AASH-
natural resources, and human attributes on the landscape
TO's standing committee on research (SCOR) makes
to be combined into maps from fine (local) to broad-scale
reports and recommendations on the National Coopera-
(regional or the world) levels. ArcGIS is an updated ver-
tive Highway Research Program (NCHRP) and other
sion of the GIS software ArcView.
activities to the AASHTO Board of Directors.
GPS--Global Positioning Systems are a system of satellites,
a-v-c--Animalvehicle collisions are the reported vehicular
software, and computers that allow users of a GPS device
accidents that involve an animal (usually a large ungulate
to detect exactly where they are on the earth within a few
such as a deer, elk, or moose) large enough to cause vehi-
meters, in a georeference data set. Georeferenced means
cle damage or injury or worse that evoke an accident
that the location has exact coordinates that can be
report with local or state law enforcement. These reports
uploaded to a computer and mapped.
are taken by sheriff's deputies, highway patrol, or other
authorities, and are reported to the traffic safety division National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)--As of 1970,
of state departments of transportation. These reports NEPA established procedural policies requiring federal
rarely involve animals smaller than a deer, and typically land management agencies to create environmental
have to cause a minimum of $1,000 in damage and occur reviews of potential projects that have ecological impacts.
with a driver who is willing to report the accident. Report- An Environmental Assessment (EA) is required for
ing these accidents is rare among those driving tractor development projects that may have some impacts on
trailer trucks, or with vehicles that have no comprehen- ecological resources, and a full Environmental Impact
sive collision insurance coverage. As such, the record of Statement (EIS) is required in situations in which the
a-v-c is considered a portion of actual collisions. environmental consequences of land use or changes have
to be identified and considered in decisions affecting the
Context sensitive solutions--The context sensitive solutions
public domain. Often in transportation planning, NEPA
approach instructs transportation agencies to consider
requirements begin once a project is defined.
the ecological, historical, and human community values
and attributes of an area under transportation develop- NCHRP--The National Cooperative Highway Research
ment consideration. Program is a program of the Transportation Research
Board, which is a division of The National Academies.
DNR--Department of Natural Resources, a state agency.
See initial pages of this final report for further
DOT--The state department of transportation is the agency descriptions.
responsible for road building and maintenance of state
PDA--A personal data assistant is typically a handheld
and federal roads in each state. Some states have slightly
computer that allows users to input data that can be down-
different names, such as state transportation department,
loaded into a computer; the device also can be read and
but all states are referenced in this manner. County and
worked with using the data it contains.
local roads are not under the purview of these agencies,
but do work with them. Permeability--A principle that wildlife, plant propagules,
and natural processes can move across the terrestrial and
ESRI--Environmental Systems Research Institute is the
aquatic landscapes freely in both daily and long-term dis-
company that helped create the original and today's most
persal movements. When applied to the transportation
commonly used geographic information systems soft-
setting, it implies that mitigation and avoidance measures
ware (see GIS).
have sufficiently been constructed to allow different
FHWA--U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal High- types of animals of different ages and genders, plant
way Administration, is the federal agency responsible for seeds, and natural processes such as the flow of water to
working with state and local transportation agencies in move to natural areas on either side of a road corridor on
the delivery of funding for road projects, research, and a daily basis.
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SAFETEA-LU--The U.S. 2005 Transportation Act, which range plans in turn are reflective of what local communi-
is the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transporta- ties would like to see developed, based on Metropolitan
tion Equity Act: A Legacy for Users. Sections 6001 and Planning Organizations (MPOs) plans, for communities
6002 relate directly to environmental considerations in of 50,000 or more, and from Rural Transportation Plan-
transportation planning. ning organizations' plans.
State Transportation Improvement Plan--STIP is a state- Taxa--A group of taxon, which is a group of organisms of
wide transportation plan that projects what transporta- any taxanomic rank. These ranks are organized by class,
tion projects will be selected to become active construction order, family, genus, and species. Taxa would be a gen-
projects in the next 5 years. These have been selected eral category to group a number of species that have a
from the Long-Range Transportation Plans that scope common characteristic. In this document, it is the species
potential projects 20 years into the future. Those long- that often have a similar quality related to roads.
