ARC: International Wildlife Crossing Infrastructure Design Competition

In 2010, more than one hundred organizations entered the International Wildlife Crossing Infrastructure Design Competition known as ARC.  In early 2011, ARC announced five finalists and competition results gave way to five different kinds of wilderness highway crossings. The crossings integrate architectural style, engineering, function, and sustainable building materials designed to reduce wildlife-related collisions across the United States of America.

ARC also produced a 12-minute video that features the winning designs and delves into the contest’s objectives.

ARC: International Wildlife Crossing Infrastructure Design Competition from ARC on Vimeo.

From a conservation perspective, it’s understood that crossings are needed to protect wildlife from North American highways. The video even identifies a very specific stretch of highway known as the West Vail Pass in Colorado along Interstate 70. There are two distinct wildernesses on either side of this highway that have no way of safely meeting each other.

There are other factors that also weigh into the importance of wildlife crossings — economic factors.

According to the U-S Department of Transportation, wildlife-vehicle collisions have nearly doubled over the past fifteen years. MEC members may not need the economic buy-in to know how important safe corridors are for wildlife but when we’re talking about a country as large as the United States and building methods that could potentially impact all of North America, governments are going to consider all of the angles.

According to Charles Waldheim, jury chair of the ARC competition, the United States has “every capacity to introduce these practices. What [they] really need is political, economic and social leadership.”

It’s wonderful that engineers and architects have come together in the name of nature and progress and created structures that could lead to wildlife corridors and safe travel for humans. But the buck doesn’t stop there. Changes to policy and decisions on how highway budgets are spent are now what stand in the way of these structures being put into practice. And ultimately, what changes policy are people.
Ready to take a stand and ask Canada’s leaders to protect Canada’s wilderness corridors? Visit TheBigWild.org and choose the campaign that speaks to you.