by Missouri Department of Transportation

In light of our January Membership Meeting Presentation on Deer Populations and their Impact on Natural Resources, we hear from Tayler Macdonald from MoDOT on their own surveys regarding Deeer-Vehicle Collisions which are causing all of our car insurance rates to rise.

From Tayler:

Here’s the link for the MoDOT Wildlife Vehicle Collision (WVC) Study webpage for the statewide WVC hotspot study and prioritization project that HDR Engineering is currently conducting for MoDOT, which was funded by a FHWA Wildlife Crossings Pilot Program grant. The goal of the project is to do a statewide assessment of WVC hotspots and priority locations then develop mitigation recommendations for the top 10 sites. The plan is to incorporate the WVC data into the transportation planning process, with the overall goal being to address WVC hotspots for motorist safety and improvement of habitat connectivity for wildlife.

The project started in September of 2024 and will be complete in February 2026. The webpage will eventually have the project’s final report, working papers 1 and 2, and the interactive WVC map.

Also on the webpage is the MoDOT Roadkill Observation and Data System (ROaDS) survey, modeled off the Center for Large Landscape Conservation’s ROaDS survey. This survey, along with instructions on how to download and use the app, are available on the ROaDS tab on the WVC study webpage (instructions are also attached). This app is free to download and use by anyone to document any roadkill, wildlife crossing roadways, or wildlife near roadways. The data will be useful in helping MoDOT evaluate mitigation recommendations for priority WVC locations throughout the state for increased safety of the traveling public.

This project has been a collaborative effort with HDR, MDC, and MoDOT, as well as many other state and federal resource management agencies, NGOs, and others who have served on the technical advisory committee (TAC). More information and links to the MoDOTvideo – YouTube short videos can be found on MoDOT’s social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter/X.

We appreciate your interest, and feel free to pass this information/email along to whoever you think may be interested! We’d love to have as many people as possible participating in the ROaDS survey to help us gather data that we can potentially use in the future for mitigation measures.