Exploratory Advanced Research . . . Next Generation Transportation Solutions

Wildlife Crossing

Web-Connected Cameras Offer Improved Monitoring for Highways

Wildlife Traffic Cameras 

This project is the first demonstration of an 

affordable, accessible remote camera system that 

continuously streams data through structured 

Web systems that State agencies can use to study 

wildlife movement around transportation corridors. 

At present, remote wildlife camera systems (known 

as camera traps) are typically checked manually 

by transportation agency staff, who download 

the data collected. This is costly for agencies and 

can be dangerous for workers. Researchers have 

developed a model system that any transportation 

agency can use in areas with wired, wireless, or 

cellular system connectivity, including using the 

system in conjunction with existing traffic camera 

infrastructure and adding wildlife monitoring to 

the data stream.

The model system features a Web interface 

that enables easier transmission and sharing of 

data across agencies and potentially with the 

general public as well. Researchers are investigating the use of image analysis software to 

automate the identification of common wildlife 

species captured in pictures from the remote 

cameras, because no such system is currently 

available for wildlife image analysis. Automated 

identification would help standardize data collection across transportation agencies and provide 

significant time savings to agencies.

Technology and System Development

In the project’s first phase, researchers examined 

the options available for camera traps to detect 

and photograph wildlife and analyzed how they 

could be assembled to form a “plug-and-play” 

wildlife-monitoring system using either wired 

Internet connections, Wi-Fi,TM or cellular technology. Working in partnership with the California 

Department of Transportation and other State 

transportation agencies, researchers are now 

further developing and refining a camera system 

to meet the needs of States, along with an online 

database (wildlifeobserver.net) that agencies 

can use to collect, manage, analyze, and share 

the wildlife image files collected. 

The Exploratory Advanced Research Program Fact Sheet

The ability to detect and monitor wildlife movement and crossings and 

other ecological processes near highways 

is important to transportation agencies’ 

environmental stewardship and decisionmaking activities. Few agencies have 

been able to systematically perform such 

monitoring because long-term monitoring 

is difficult to fund and staff and may 

present safety risks. Remote cameras 

present the opportunity to surmount 

these difficulties, but images collected 

by static cameras may not be viewed 

until weeks or months later, which can 

result in lost data from equipment failure 

or poor siting. These problems would 

become obvious much earlier with 

a continuous data feed, but wireless 

streaming cameras have not typically 

been used to monitor wildlife activity 

near highways. 

Creating Web-connected wireless 

camera systems for wildlife monitoring 

is the goal of the Exploratory Advanced 

Research (EAR) Program project 

“Remote, Wireless Camera Systems 

for Environmental Monitoring of Transportation Corridors.” The Road Ecology 

Center at the University of California, 

Davis, is conducting this research, which 

is funded by the Federal Highway 

Administration (FHWA).
The online system is set up to 

receive image files uploaded 

either by transportation agency 

staff or directly by remote, wireless cameras. The system then 

automatically creates database 

records for image files based 

on information already attached to the file, such 

as the date and time an image was captured. 

Users just need to identify the animal and add 

any further desired characteristics or data (e.g., 

gender, age, specific activity observed, and 

direction traveled). 

Field Testing

Staff from transportation agencies in California, 

Colorado, South Dakota, and Utah are cooperating in field testing the camera and database 

systems to evaluate both their effectiveness 

in capturing and managing wildlife images 

and their ease of use. Using this feedback, the 

researchers will develop training materials and 

conduct a Webinar and onsite training with 

State transportation agency staff. The researchers will then present to FHWA recommended 

camera and database systems, along with documentation describing how to acquire, set up, 

and use them.

Importance to FHWA 

The technology developed for this project will 

contribute to the implementation of Eco-Logical: 

An Ecosystem Approach to Developing Infrastructure Projects, a report and toolkit developed by 

FHWA and seven other Federal agencies. 

Eco-Logical presents the partner agencies’ vision 

for an infrastructure development process that 

promotes ecosystem-based environmental mitigation through integrating plans and data across 

agencies. Implementation of Eco-Logical has 

been slowed, however, by issues related to data 

collection and analysis. This project’s innovations 

in technology will help agencies more easily and 

cost-effectively acquire the needed wildlife 

movement data.

What Is the Exploratory 

Advanced Research Program?

FHWA’s Exploratory Advanced Research 

(EAR) Program focuses on longer term, 

higher risk research with a high payoff 

potential. The program addresses underlying gaps faced by applied highway 

research programs, anticipates emerging 

issues with national implications, and 

reflects broad transportation industry 

goals and objectives. To learn more about 

the EAR Program, visit the EAR Web site 

at www.fhwa.dot.gov/advancedresearch. 

The site features information on research 

solicitations, updates on ongoing research, 

links to published materials, summaries of 

past EAR Program events, and details on 

upcoming events. 

Wildlife Crossing

Web-Connected Cameras Offer Improved Monitoring for Highways

Publication No. 

FHWA-HRT-16-033

HRTM-30/01-16(WEB)E

Next Steps

The next steps for the project researchers include 

developing short training videos on the system 

and writing articles describing both the informatics and camera sampling process for publication in peer-reviewed journals. The researchers 

will also improve the associated data portion 

of the Web system so that the ecological context of camera placements can more easily be 

visualized and will demonstrate standardized 

methods for understanding the capacities of 

individual camera models and how this affects 

sampling by the cameras.

Learn More

For more information on this project, contact 

Deidre Remley in the FHWA Office of Project 

Development and Environmental Review, 202-

366-0524 (email: deidre.remley@dot.gov). 

© Road Ecology Center, 

University of California, Davis.

A deer uses a wildlife crossing 

that the California Department 

of Transportation constructed 

under State Route 50.

Photo credit, page 1: 

© Road Ecology Center, 

University of California, Davis.

A bobcat travels through 

a wildlife crossing built by 

the California Department 

of Transportation under 

Interstate 80 in the Sierra 

Nevada mountains.