ARC is more than a competition; it is an ideology that spans disciplines, species, geography and aspirations. Our name and visual identity has emerged directly from the science of road ecology. We worked with Studio:Blackwell, Chris Harrison, a PhD candidate at the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, and Dr. Tony Clevenger of the Western Transportation Institute to produce a graphic arc diagram which is a visualization of actual wildlife crossing data. These data–and the information on which the arc diagram is based—were collected over the last decade at the 24 wildlife crossing structures in Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada. It tracks the daily use of the crossing structures by large mammals whose adaptation to this infrastructure successfully reconnects the surrounding landscape and creates safer highways every day.

Initiated by the Western Transportation Institute at Montana State University and the Woodcock Foundation in New York City, ARC quickly drew additional support from the Edmonton Community Foundation, the Federal Highway Administration and the American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials. It continues to draw mounting support from federal and state agencies, universities, professional associations and non-profit organizations in the U.S. and Canada.

Learn more about wildlife crossing structures and road ecology