ARC International Wildlife Crossing Infrastructure Design Competition

ARC Competition Officially Launched
Design Teams from Around the World Hear the Call

Summary:

• The ARC International Wildlife Crossing Infrastructure Design Competition challenges design teams to reweave the landscape for wildlife in a cost-effective manner using new methods, new materials, and new thinking.
• Initiated by the Western Transportation Institute at Montana State University and the Woodcock Foundation, ARC quickly drew additional support from the Edmonton Community Foundation, the Federal Highway Administration and the American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials (AASHTO). ARC continues to draw mounting support from federal and state agencies, universities, professional associations and non-profit conservation organizations in the United States and Canada.
• The site of the ARC design competition is located where natural and human-dominated worlds collide. Between the rapidly urbanizing metropolitan area of Denver and the resort communities of Vail, Aspen and Breckenridge, Colorado, the site sits at approximately 10,000 feet (3,000 meters) above sea level and 90 miles (145 kilometers) west of Denver along the I-70 Mountain Corridor just west of Vail Pass. The site is identified as a critical habitat linkage in the Rocky Mountain Corridor, and home to a variety of iconic species such as black bear, cougar, bobcat, Canada lynx, coyote, elk, deer and American marten. It serves as an ideal setting for design teams to explore innovative means to safely reconnect a landscape with the charismatic wildlife that depend on and define this place.
• Jurors will be looking not only for beautiful, compelling designs that meet the needs of both people and wildlife but also the use of materials that make infrastructure more affordable and, ultimately, our roads safer from wildlife-vehicle collisions. 
• Expressions of Interest are due in hard copy by 4pm (Mountain Daylight Time) July 30, 2010.

For complete entry information, please read full June 14, 2010 press release.

For more background on ARC and the site of the competition, please read the December 16, 2009 press release.

Hub for all official information about the ARC competition: www.arc-competition.com

# # #

ARC is a partnership-driven wildlife crossing design competition. ARC will engage the best and most innovative international, interdisciplinary design teams—comprised of landscape designers, architects, engineers, ecologists, and other experts—to create the next generation of wildlife crossings for North America’s roadways. In doing so, the competition will raise international awareness around wildlife movement and protection while promoting feasible, buildable context-sensitive and compelling design solutions for safe, efficient, cost-effective, and ecologically responsive wildlife crossings.