Composting roadkilled deer.

With State departments of transportation (DOTs) working to improve traffic flow and mobility, U.S. roadways are moving an ever increasing volume ofpeople and goods at greater speeds and at all hours of the day and night.One consequence of this seemingly endless flow of cars and trucks is thatan estimated 1.5 million deer-vehicle collisions occur each year nationwide. Collisions between deer and vehicles result in thousands of human injuries and millions of dollars in property damage, as well as countless animal deaths. While researchers continue to study and implement solutions such as wildlife crossing structures to help minimize crashes, transportationand environmental experts at the New York State DOT (NYSDOT) are looking at an alternative method of disposing the deer carcasses. Traditional methods, including "natural" disposal by offroad decomposition, pit burial, rendering, and landfill disposal, are being slowly replaced by an environmentally and aesthetically preferable approach that entails composting the deer carcasses with wood chips. This article describes and discusses this alternative, which NYSDOT researchers have found provides a financial benefit and an opportunity to recycle materials such as asphalt millings, wood chips, and roadkill, which are readily available within the realm of highway work.