I-70 Floyd Hill Stakeholder Coordination and Wildlife Crossings Design

ECO-resolutions led the interagency ALIVE Stakeholder group through a series of meetings and discussions to identify impacts and develop a wildlife mitigation strategy for a major interstate widening and realignment process on I-70 in Jefferson and Clear Creek Counties, Colorado. The project overlapped with two Linkage Interference Zones on the I-70 Mountain Corridor – areas that have been identified for their value wildlife movement and the need to reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions. ECO-resolutions provided specialized expertise in developing wildlife mitigation solutions in the context of the conditions and challenges in this Front Range landscape to the ALIVE discussions, which ultimately resulted in the recommendation for alternative wildlife crossings mitigaiton outside of project boundaries in compensation for the impacts of this project. Throughout the process, ECO-resolutions guided the ALIVE group through difficult conversations to ensure the best use of limited mitigation funds.

As a result of this process, two wildlife crossing structures are now being designed: a wildlife overpass targeting bighorn sheep connectivity on US 40 near Empire; and a large underpass targeting elk on I-70 near Genesee.