The highway analogy is a term derived from the flood-pulse concept (FPC) where the river channel functions mainly for transport and the floodplain provides essential fish habitat for feeding, spawning, development, refuge, and so on. The purpose of the paper is to evaluate the FPC prediction that few fishes use the main channel exclusively in large floodplain rivers by comparing fish habitat use in several temperate rivers. The final caution is that large-river restoration and conservation efforts should consider all channel and floodplain habitats and their interactions within the context of native fishes.

The RCC, FPC, and RPM are all inadequate for understanding the main channel as a functioning foodweb. The purpose of the paper is to provide data on fish habitat and food preferences in large rivers, connect the main channel's relationship to fish and other habitats, and to describe the main channel foodweb. The studies were carried out on the Illinois River and the Upper Mississippi River.