Plans for a desperately needed animal overpass in southern California are now in the final design phase.
The Liberty Canyon Wildlife Crossing will extend over a stretch of US Highway 101 in Agoura Hills, 35 miles northwest of Los Angeles. At 200 feet long and 165 feet wide, it will be the world’s largest animal overpass and the first crossing of its type near a major metropolis.
Presently, animals must risk their lives in busy traffic to cross the ten-lane freeway. As a result, many creatures are essentially trapped in an environment that restricts them from finding appropriate mates and limits their access to food. Since 2002, 17 lions that we know of have died trying to cross the busy road.
“When the freeway went in, it cut off an ecosystem,” Beth Pratt, director of the California branch of the National Wildlife Federation, stated in an interview with Christopher Weber of the Associated Press.
Mountain lions are especially threatened by the geographic confines imposed by the highway. The isolation caused by habitat loss has led to inbreeding among two populations of big cats in the Santa Ana and Santa Monica Mountains.
Due to low genetic diversity resulting from inbreeding and mortality associated with human activities and environmental changes, both mountain lion populations could go extinct within the next 50 years, according to a study published in the journal Ecological Applications.
The Liberty Canyon Wildlife Crossing will enable mountain lions to travel safely from one side of the freeway to the other and interact with species members from other populations, potentially reducing inbreeding and increasing genetic diversity.
Many other animals, such as lizards, snakes, coyotes, and deer will also benefit from the bridge. Mortality rates linked to animal-vehicle collisions can be reduced by 85 to 95 percent with the introduction of wildlife under- or overpasses, Rob Ament, road ecology program manager at Montana State University’s Western Transportation Institute, explained to National Geographic‘s Starre Vartan in April.
The overpass is being designed to seamlessly blend in with the surrounding mountainside and to block out the light and sounds of the traffic below.
“Ideally the animals will never know they’re on a bridge,” architect Clark Stevens, with the Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains, told the Associated Press.
Private funding will pay for 80 percent of the $87 million crossway, and the remainder will come from public conservation funds. Groundbreaking should occur within two years, and the bridge is projected to open in 2023.
Wonderful news!
IT’S ABOUT TIME !!!! THE NETHERLANDS HAS PLENTY OF THEM TO PROTECT THE ANIMALS !!!! HOW CAN USA NOT DO THE SAME ?? WE SHOULD BE AN EXAMPLE TO THE REST OF THE WORLD !!!
That’s awesome! I’m from Northern Ontario in Canada and a wildlife bridge was built there. Doesn’t take them long to figure out that it’s a safe passage. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egE0thbEv5s
Let’s hope they do more than talk and actually get it built. I read about this months ago so obviously nothing has happened yet – don’t make yourselves out to be hero’s – until you actually are. The idea is super terrific but it holds no meaning until it is actually in place. Do more than just speak the words – show us the actions to get this done.
California has been talking about this wildlife overpass for over a decade now.
They’ve already lost about two dozen mountain lions. That population can not take many more hits..
I’ve been spotlighting the wildlife overpasses on I-78 through northern New Jersey in many of my comments.
And they WORK!!! Over the years they’ve grown into beautiful areas that save lives.
Let’s hope this is finally going in – CA is in crisis now.
I’ll celebrate when it’s actually built and animals stop being slaughtered on the roads.
Thank you California.
Happy to know there is going to be an animal over pass so animals there in California will not be hit by cars. Great.
Good initiative👍
THAT IS AWESOME!!!
FABULOUS NEWS!!! Well done, California!!!
Wonderful!
Thank you California!
Excellent news — money well spent
How wonderful. Not all humans hate or dislike animals, even though at times I can’t believe what I hear.
Great news!!!!!
Hooray!! Hopefully there will be constant underwriting, donations and P.R.
Needless death can be prevented if “bridges”, so to speak, were implemented all across the nation. Animals would be free to cross over roadways of various sizes if such bridges were constructed, not only keeping them safe, but drivers safe as well. For example, people driving wouldn’t have to swerve to avoid animals, and the animals themselves would have a lesser chance of getting into the road and subsequently going through the windshield of a vehicle if a driver weren’t paying attention.
There have been wildlife overpasses on I-78 through northern New Jersey for decades now.
If you want to see how wonderful they can be, here’s a link:
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/wildlife-crossings-creatu_b_10020252
Check it out – you’ll wonder why every place doesn’t have these!