The World's Largest Wildlife Crossing Will Help Animals Walk Safely Over
April 27, 2024 10:13 AM Subscribe
The World's Largest Wildlife Crossing Will Help Animals Walk Safely Over Eight Lanes of California Traffic. The 210-foot-long bridge across a busy freeway in Los Angeles County is expected to be finished in 2025.
There's a lot of infrastructure that gets put in place to funnel animals toward these and make it the only obvious choice for them.
There are stretches of US highway between Missoula and Kalispell in Montana that have tons of animal crossings, both above and below the road. And that's good because driving in that part of the country, even with the animal crossings, I've killed probably a dozen deer with delivery vans.
I'd personally hope they would make features like these mandatory and work hard to retrofit as much of the country as possible. Animal strikes are terrible for animals and people and vehicles.
posted by hippybear at 11:45 AM on April 27 [4 favorites]
There are stretches of US highway between Missoula and Kalispell in Montana that have tons of animal crossings, both above and below the road. And that's good because driving in that part of the country, even with the animal crossings, I've killed probably a dozen deer with delivery vans.
I'd personally hope they would make features like these mandatory and work hard to retrofit as much of the country as possible. Animal strikes are terrible for animals and people and vehicles.
posted by hippybear at 11:45 AM on April 27 [4 favorites]
We have a few of them in Canada.
Banff National Park Crossings
"In the Canadian Rocky Mountains, Banff National Park’s six overpasses, 38 underpasses and 82 kilometers of associated wildlife fencing over, under and along the Trans-Canada Highway (TCH) is likely the most famous and most researched wildlife crossing success story in the world
wildlife-vehicle collisions along this segment of the TCH have decreased by 80% overall, with crashes involving elk and deer falling by an astounding 96%.
--
In Ontario we have the Highway 69 crossing complex
When you drive on that stretch you also notice miles and miles of a very small fence.
It's designed to protect the Massasauga Rattlesnake
93 eco-passages (large crossings underneath the highway that provide safe passage for wildlife) which will include approximately 140 kilometres (km) of fencing designed to keep the Massasauga Rattlesnake off of the roadway and to funnel them towards the eco-passages.
--
The Wonderful World of Wildlife Crossings
scroll down to an interactive map of wildlife crossings in North America.
posted by yyz at 12:25 PM on April 27 [4 favorites]
Banff National Park Crossings
"In the Canadian Rocky Mountains, Banff National Park’s six overpasses, 38 underpasses and 82 kilometers of associated wildlife fencing over, under and along the Trans-Canada Highway (TCH) is likely the most famous and most researched wildlife crossing success story in the world
wildlife-vehicle collisions along this segment of the TCH have decreased by 80% overall, with crashes involving elk and deer falling by an astounding 96%.
--
In Ontario we have the Highway 69 crossing complex
When you drive on that stretch you also notice miles and miles of a very small fence.
It's designed to protect the Massasauga Rattlesnake
93 eco-passages (large crossings underneath the highway that provide safe passage for wildlife) which will include approximately 140 kilometres (km) of fencing designed to keep the Massasauga Rattlesnake off of the roadway and to funnel them towards the eco-passages.
--
The Wonderful World of Wildlife Crossings
scroll down to an interactive map of wildlife crossings in North America.
posted by yyz at 12:25 PM on April 27 [4 favorites]
How delightfully well timed. Mr. eirias and I are on a road trip and were just musing a couple of hours ago about how these work (prompted, sadly, by a number of dead animals alongside the road, including a porcupine). Thanks for the link.
posted by eirias at 4:04 PM on April 27
posted by eirias at 4:04 PM on April 27
The I-78 interstate highway links eastern Pennsylvania with NYC metro. A segment in central New Jersey remained unbuilt for decades because it was going to blast right through the Watchung Reservation, a wildlife refuge in a a region that was otherwise thoroughly developed. Local environmentalists tied it up in the courts and eventually got the government planners to include multiple wildlife bridges. I don't know the dimensions of them but they look just as big as these across the 101 in California, so I'm a little skeptical of the headline.
That was 40 years ago, though, and they've definitely gotten smarter about these bridge designs since then.
EDIT: yyz's ArcGIS link above doesn't even list it, SMH
posted by intermod at 7:57 PM on April 27
That was 40 years ago, though, and they've definitely gotten smarter about these bridge designs since then.
EDIT: yyz's ArcGIS link above doesn't even list it, SMH
posted by intermod at 7:57 PM on April 27
The crossings in Banff are very impressive and yes, there are lots of fencing leading up to the crossing that would seemingly funnel the animals to the overpass.
posted by mmascolino at 6:08 AM on April 28
posted by mmascolino at 6:08 AM on April 28
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I'm always amazed how they get animals to use these pathways.
posted by 2N2222 at 11:18 AM on April 27 [1 favorite]