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History of Wildlife Connectivity Planning & Measures in Blaine County
Most recently, ITD's Environmental office at Headquarters published a Statewide Research Report, titled "Identification of Wildlife-Vehicle Conflict Mitigation Opportunity Locations in Idaho" (January 9, 2026).
In it, Blaine County remains a priority and their data aligns with the that of the County/WRLT's long-range mitigation plan in development-- the hotspots/target road sections of our County/local plan entirely align with the many "opportunity locations" that ITD found across the County. By a few measures, ITD narrowed their statewide priorities to focus on 2 of those opportunity locations in Blaine County: a 7-mile stretch north of Hailey to Elkhorn Rd and a 1-mile stretch by Dip Creek Rd just south of Fox Creek Rd. Their report stops at identifying opportunity locations, while our plan is building on the opportunity locations and developing recommendations.
In 2013, following the first phase of the current highway expansion projects, the Blaine County Regional Transportation Committee launched a citizen science campaign to collect wildlife vehicle collision data. For background on the activities and success of the 2013 campaign, see:
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The article, "ITD to play key role in reducing vehicle-animal collisions," published in 2013 by the Idaho Transportation Department in their series: The Transporter.
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The article, "Physics class studies deer, elk collisions with vehicles," published in 2013 by the Idaho Transportation Department in their series: The Transporter.
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The 2013 news release, "Night speed-limit changes on Idaho 75 begin next week," by the Idaho Transportation Department.
The Idaho Transportation Department (ITD) responded to local concerns about the high number of crashes involving wildlife-vehicle collisions by:
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reducing night-time speeds and light-sensitive warning beacons (responsive to vehicle headlights).
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improving the design of Hospital Bridge to allow for wildlife passage beneath it, along the riparian corridor, and
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installing additional wildlife warning signage elsewhere on SH-75.
These mitigation measures diverged from the SH-75 roadway design and plans that were approved and built per the 2008 Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS).
In addition to the 2008 FEIS, the County and ITD commissioned a supplemental white paper from the Western Transportation Institute at Montana State University, titled "Wildlife-Vehicle Collision and Crossing Mitigation Measures: A Literature Review for Blaine County, Idaho." See page 91 of the report for its nuanced conclusion, plus earlier pages for the variable effectiveness of mitigation measures. A more technical report deliberates the costs, benefits and feasibility of installing an animal detection system (ADS) on SH-75; although none was ever installed. However, modifications to the two bridges along SH-75 were adopted per the report's recommendation.