Just 15 hours after construction crews finished work for the day, deer stepped onto a newly built wildlife bridge on U.S. 97 in Siskiyou County, California, using a safer path above the road below, according to NewsWatch 12/KDRV.
The deer were the first animals to use the new overcrossing, and Caltrans said a bobcat and other animals have also used the structure while workers continue adding final touches to the project.
For wildlife in Siskiyou County, the new bridge creates a safer route across U.S. 97. Instead of stepping directly into traffic, deer, bobcats, and other animals can move over the highway, helping protect animals while also reducing the risk of collisions between vehicles and wildlife.
The deer’s swift arrival underscores the purpose of the crossing, giving animals a route over the highway instead of forcing them toward traffic.
The U.S. 97 project is California’s first wildlife overcrossing, a bridge built to help animals move safely over the highway, ActiveNorCal reported. The deer wasted no time showing how urgently animals need safer ways to move through their habitats. Their quick use of the bridge is an especially hopeful first sign for the state’s wildlife safety efforts.
Roads can interrupt the routes animals use to move through their habitats, but this new structure gives wildlife a way over U.S. 97 without bringing them into the path of vehicles.
Wildlife Overpass (L); Ecoduct Aerial View (R) (Photo Credit: Dominic Gentilcore/Adobe Stock; Semi/Adobe Stock)
Caltrans said seeing animals use the bridge so quickly shows the project will support wildlife movement and public safety for years to come, according to NewsWatch 12.
Lady Freethinker celebrates this early sign that the bridge is already helping animals. Every safe crossing matters for wildlife who deserve to move through their own habitats without being forced into the path of speeding vehicles.
