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Mice Chew Into Construction of U.S. 36

Sat September 09, 2000 - West Edition
Troy M. Hawks


Since when does a mouse interfere with a major road construction project? Well until now perhaps never, but that’s just what happened with the $5.3-million widening project of US 36 north of Boulder, CO.

According to the Colorado Division of Wildlife, an important mouse habitat lies within this 5.5-mi. stretch of U.S. 36 from Nelson Road to SH 66, meaning that construction crews were required to follow special procedures as to not disturb the area during the project.

Of course the mouse that inhabits this area is no ordinary mouse, but the Preble’s meadow jumping mouse (Zapus hudsonius preblei), which the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) on May 12, 1998.

But why are they so worried about a mouse? According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service, when the ESA was passed by Congress and signed into law in 1973, most people assumed that it would provide needed protection for large rare mammals such as grizzly bears and whales. Over the past 25 years, however, the ESA also has been used to protect many less well-known species, and therefore treats the protection of the Preble meadow jumping mouse as being just as legitimate and important as the protection of the bald eagle.

According to some scientists, the Preble meadow jumping mouse is an “indicator” species, meaning that their recent decline may be an indication of things to come for larger, more well-known species such as rabbits, coyotes, fox and deer.

As the service states, “The apparent decline of the Preble meadow jumping mouse may be an indication that stream-side vegetation has been severely affected by rapidly expanding residential and urban development along the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains.”

Because of the listing, any development that potentially affects mouse habitat requires federal approval before projects can proceed. With this, contractor SEMA Construction of Englewood, CO, and the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) worked closely with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Federal Highway Administration to identify the areas of possible Preble’s mouse habitat.

Once identified officials made the necessary adjustments to the plans and specifications to avoid and/or minimize the project’s overall impact on these areas.

“There are pockets of really nice habitat here, and so many different mouse populations that may all be interconnected,” said CDOT Environmental Specialist April Hutchison. “They may travel in the culverts under the highway and along the ditches to different habitats, much the same way as we use our roads.”

Hutchison said that portions of the mouse habitats have been fenced off to prevent any unnecessary construction activity in those areas. Also, the entire area will be revegitated and new habitats will be created to replace those that have been affected by the work.

This was the first job for SEMA Construction Project Manager Clint Davis since graduating from California’s Santa Clara University earlier in the year. The project involved replacing the bridge over the St. Vrain River, replacing or extending several other drainage structures and box culverts, widening the roadway to two 12-ft. lanes with 8-ft. shoulders, improving the intersection at SH 66, adding acceleration/deceleration lanes at the intersections and overlaying the entire stretch with asphalt.

“The main challenge on this job was beating the deadline,” Davis said. “Because much of the area is within important mouse habitat our crews had to finish the deck pour of the bridge and have two box culverts in place by April 1.”

These deadlines, as determined by the Colorado Division of Wildlife and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, provided that work would be complete within the sensitive areas well before the Preble mouse was expected to come out of hibernation.

“We had to time the deck pour according to the weather, so we kept a close watch on the local weather reports and prayed that the meteorologists were accurate,” Davis explained.

In order to meet the code for the deck pour, the concrete temperatures had to remain above 50 degrees for the first two days after the pour, and above 40 degrees for the next three days. Meanwhile, local temperatures at night were occasionally falling below 32 degrees.

Crews therefore had to utilize heating blankets and propane heaters to maintain temperatures beneath the blankets. Ultimately, Davis reported, they passed code by a margin of 3 to 5 degrees.

In all the project required 1,300 cu. yds. (1,000 cu m) of concrete, 12,000 cu. yds. (9120 cu m) of asphalt, and 8,000 cu. yds. (6,080 cu m) of embankment material

“It’s been a long time in the planning, and we’re happy we were able to proceed with the environmental clearances that were necessary,” said CDOT Resident Engineer Mark Gosselin. “This corridor is a major bike route, but until now this stretch had no shoulders to accommodate cyclists.

“It was a pretty good first project, it was pretty much just a matter of getting used to procedures,” said Davis, adding that the environmental concerns made it a pretty unique project.

However, the extra effort of all parties involved ensures that the Preble’s meadow jumping mouse will continue to survive along the northern Front Range region of Colorado.




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