Browsing by Subject "Roads"
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Item Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis) in Minnesota: Road Use and Movements within the Home Range(University of Minnesota Duluth, 2012) Terwilliger, Lauren; Moen, RonaldResponses of Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis) to linear corridors, particularly roads and trails, depend on geographic area, individual lynx, road characteristics and local habitat. Roads and trails may benefit lynx by increasing both the ease and speed of travel between use areas. However, proximity to roads may increase the probability of lynx-human interactions and the risk of mortality from vehicle collisions and incidental human-caused mortality. In Minnesota, lynx frequently travel along and cross roads and trails, and proximity to road features occurs both within home ranges and during long-distance movements outside of established territories. The use of linear features by lynx was assessed within seasonal home ranges based on about 4,500 GPS locations from 7 lynx collected during a 6 year radiotelemetry study in the Superior National Forest. Within home ranges, lynx were closer to roads than both water or wetland features, and about 3% of locations occurred on roads/trails. As expected, male lynx had faster movement rates and larger home ranges than female lynx. Although the sample size was small preventing statistical analysis, movement rates were faster for consecutive locations on a road/trail than locations not on a road/trail for female lynx, but similar for male lynx. Distance to roads/trails decreased with increasing road density; however movement rate was not affected by road/trail density which was similar among individuals, home ranges and seasons. Road crossings were also not related to road density, and were proportionate to the total length of various road surface types present within a home range. Finally, distance to roads/trails did not differ between actual locations and random locations. This suggested that lynx were not selecting for or against roads within their home ranges, although within 25 m of a road/trail lynx were closer to roads than random expectation. It appears that the consistent road density across the study area (< 2 km/km2) may account for the lack of relationship between road density and lynx use of roads. It is also probable that lynx use roads/trails within home ranges for more than just movement, potentially foraging along road corridors. Interactions with prey, and encounters with human activities, vehicles and competitors near roads and trails likely explains why movement rates were not increased by road/trail presence. The frequency of lynx occurrence near roads within the home range and during long-distance movements indicates that lynx in Minnesota are occasionally vulnerable to mortality associated with roads. The extent of this potential threat to lynx in Minnesota is unknown.Item Minnesota TH 61 North Shore Scenic Drive(2004) Transportation Research Board; Myrick, PThis report summarizes the reconstruction of TH 61 from Duluth to the Canadian border, and the consultative processes used prior to reconstruction. It takes an engineering perspective and does not include an assessment of water resources or public use of the shoreline, although reconstruction would necessarily have impacts on both. The report casts the reconstruction of TH 61 in a very positive light, and does not contain public commentary. Key segments are extracted and reproduced below. "The Minnesota Department of Transportation's (Mn/DOT's) reconstruction and realignment of TH 61 along Lake Superior's Good Harbor Bay illustrates a context sensitive design approach that balanced transportation, community, and environmental needs without requiring exceptions to geometric design standards. This project also illustrates context sensitive design that did not arise out of contentious public involvement and controversy but rather out of proactive project management and involvement of stakeholders. The specific effects of a lower design speed (55mph rather than the proposed 70mh) were to allow the highway alignment to be shifted and design flexibility to be accomplished without the need for exceptions to geometric design standards. Full lane widths and shoulder widths and appropriate roadside design for safety was possible for the alignment based on the lower design speed. Finally, the effect of the lower speed resulted in Mn/DOT saving considerable construction costs by avoiding extensive rock cuts. Mn/DOT went beyond avoidance, though. Consistent with MNDOT's context sensitive commitments and proactive stakeholder involvement, consensus was reached in determining project purpose and need to balance transportation, community, and environmental objectives. Specifically, a consensus was reached that selecting a lower design speed appropriate for the project characteristics would provide the flexibility to shift roadway alignment and balance project objectives without requiring exceptions to geometric design standards. As part of the overall project, given the vision of the stakeholders and importance of the route as a resource, Mn/DOT seized the opportunity to enhance the environment by the following actions: A. Alignment shift provided additional space to enable the expansion and reconstruction of the Cutface Creek Rest Area; B. Mn/DOT undertook the stabilization of a shoreline erosion problem; C. Cutface Creek bank stabilization was accomplished. The application of appropriate and context sensitive design flexibility during project development led to a successful balance of transportation, community, and environmental needs that are served by the constructed project. The constructed project also met four key measures of design excellence: 1) community acceptance, 2) environmental compatibility, 3) engineering and functional credibility, and 4) financial feasibility.”Item NRRI Collection of Miscellaneous Reports Pt. 2(University of Minnesota Duluth, 2000) University of Minnesota Duluth. Natural Resources Research InstituteItem Visualizing Transportation Happiness in the Minneapolis-St. Paul Region(Center for Transportation Studies, University of Minnesota, 2020-03) Fan, Yingling; Ormsby, Travis; Wiringa, Peter; Liao, Chen-Fu; Wolfson, JulianThis report describes the data and methods used to generate the interactive Minneapolis-St. Paul Transportation Happiness Map at http://maps.umn.edu/transportation-happiness. The map illustrates spatiotemporal differences in travelers' happiness ratings on the streets and roads in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan region. Map users can interactively explore street and road segments that are associated with positive and/or negative emotional experiences based upon their interested travel modes and travel time periods. For policy makers who are interested in improving people's transportation happiness, the map provides important insights on road and street segments that are in need of closer investigations for future improvements.Item Watershed-based Stressors for the Great Lakes Basin(2024-01-11) Host, George; Kovalenko, Katya; Brown, Terry; Johnson, Lucinda; Ciborowski, Jan; ljohnson@d.umn.edu; Johnson, Lucinda; Natural Resources Research InstituteThe Watershed-based Stressors for the Great Lakes Basin dataset includes component and aggregated measures of environmental stress to coastal ecosystems from watersheds of the Great Lakes Basin. Stressors include the amount of agricultural and developed land use, as well as road and population density. These summaries are based on a set of 5971 watersheds that cover the US and Canadian Great Lakes basin, derived using methods from Hollenhorst et al. (2007). Indices presented in this dataset include SumRel (Host et al. 2011) and the more recent combined Agriculture and Development - AgDev index (Host et al. 2019). These were developed as part of the Great Lakes Environmental Indicators II (GLEI-II) project, funded through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative and used to quantify the response of biota (birds, fish, macroinvertebrates, diatoms and wetland vegetation) to varying degrees of watershed stress (Kovalenko et al. 2014). As of 2015, a more recent version of watersheds has been created by the Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat Framework and stressors recalculated based on those watersheds.