Animal bridges

Four "green" bridges are under construction in Czechia, crossing highway D1 (the most busy highway, between Prague and Bratislava). They are on kilometer 96, 129, 170 and 176.

They are around 50 meters wide and built at places identified in the past to be on long-travel wildlife corridors of large mammals (moose, wolf, lynx) who used to be killed by traffic when they tried to cross it.
Link with pics
 
UngulateNerd92 said:
How long has Sydney had these possum bridges and what made the city decide to install them?
Click to expand...

The article I linked to was from 14 years ago - so they've been around at least that long.

The main reason for their installation was there being an average of one possum per day being killed by vehicles along that stretch of road - it's a busy road with bushland on both sides of the road.

I believe there have since been additional bridges installed to the east along Mona Vale Rd - which is surrounded by national park and thus has a lot of wildlife activity in the area along with high speed traffic.

I found references to possum bridges in Victoria just north of Melbourne and in Perth as well.
 
Simon Hampel said:
The article I linked to was from 14 years ago - so they've been around at least that long.

The main reason for their installation was there being an average of one possum per day being killed by vehicles along that stretch of road - it's a busy road with bushland on both sides of the road.

I believe there have since been additional bridges installed to the east along Mona Vale Rd - which is surrounded by national park and thus has a lot of wildlife activity in the area along with high speed traffic.

I found references to possum bridges in Victoria just north of Melbourne and in Perth as well.
Click to expand...

Ah very interesting. Thank you, I appreciate it. These bridges are definitely an asset to biodiversity conservation.
 
Here is another relevant article.

California budgets $61.5 million for wildlife crossings

The state looks to protect both wildlife and drivers, as large animals cause 20 crashes a day on state highways.

It’d be just another normal day, nearly 17 feet above Highway 101 in Agoura Hills.

A southern alligator lizard and a western toad hide from the heat in the greenery of restored native vegetation. Mountain lion cubs pounce on rocks and spring into the nearby canyons. The sun glints on the feathers of a golden eagle soaring overhead.

This is the scene environmentalists hope will someday become reality on a massive overpass above the ten-lane freeway that cuts through the Santa Monica Mountains near Los Angeles. The project known as the Liberty Canyon Wildlife Crossing is one step closer to happening now that Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed a budget that includes $7 million to help build it — and another $54.5 million for similar projects in other parts of the state.

bridges and tunnels that help animals safely cross busy roads and freeways. The goal is twofold: to give species at risk the space they need to find mates, and to reduce the number of car crashes that imperil both wildlife and humans.

About 7,000 vehicle crashes a year on California highways involve large wildlife, such as deer, according to 2018 data from the Road Ecology Center at the University of California, Davis. That’s nearly 20 crashes a day, at least. Many are likely unreported.

And they aren’t cheap — for the drivers or the government. Between 2015 and 2018, wildlife crashes have cost more than $1 billion. The expenses include car damage, personal injuries, emergency response, traffic impacts, lost work and the clean-up.

Highways aren’t just crash sites for the deer caught in the headlights; they’re also a great divide that can threaten the future of an entire species.

That’s because highways cut through critical habitat, making it impossible for animals from one side to breed with animals on the other. This leads to inbreeding and deformities that result from dwindling genetic diversity.

Wildlife crossings can help.

California budgets $61.5 million for wildlife crossings
 
Here is another relevant article.

Reports Offer Guidance on Why and How to Build Wildlife Crossings

Wildlife-vehicle collisions take a toll on our environment and society in many ways. They endanger wildlife populations, cause human injuries and deaths, and cost US taxpayers billions of dollars a year. Well-designed wildlife road-crossing structures are a proven solution but are not without challenges. Two reports recently published by the US Forest Service—with contributions from Center for Large Landscape Conservation staff—address these challenges while providing useful information on costs, benefits, and planning of crossing structures.

Experts from the Center have been working to help develop the body of research on wildlife crossings for many years and have integrated much of that research into these reports. Co-authors of both reports include Rob Ament, senior conservationist at the Center, and former staffer Renee Callahan, now executive director of ARC Solutions—a fiscally sponsored project of the Center. Along with their fellow contributors, they provide new guidance on crossings for policymakers, transportation engineers, and interested conservation practitioners.

Reports Offer Guidance on Why and How to Build Wildlife Crossings
 
UngulateNerd92 said:
How long has Sydney had these possum bridges and what made the city decide to install them?
Click to expand...
Rope bridges for possums and gliders have been around in Australia for at least 25 years, and there is even a company that specializes in them:

Fauna Crossings
 
Senate Bipartisan Infrastructure Package Provides Critical Funding to Reduce Wildlife-Vehicle Collisions

Marking an important step to safeguard both people and wildlife, the Senate bipartisan infrastructure package passed today includes $350 million to construct wildlife road crossings. These structures allow animals to pass safely over or under roadways, avoiding traffic, as well as new policy provisions and expanded eligibility for wildlife infrastructure. The provisions in this legislation will help safeguard biodiversity while stimulating the U.S. economy, mitigating climate impacts, and reducing highway fatalities.

Senate Bipartisan Infrastructure Package Provides Critical Funding to Reduce Wildlife-Vehicle Collisions — Wildlands Network
 
  • Like
Reactions: MRJ
I know this isn't a bridge per say, but this is still a relevant project.

Network Rail builds Scotland’s first ‘Beaver tunnel’ under the Highland mainline

Network Rail engineers have constructed what is believed to be the first ‘beaver pass’ in the country under the Highland mainline.

The new tunnel has been constructed to help the protected species pass under the railway and to help prevent flooding issues caused by the animals.

As part of the project an additional 45mm pipe was inserted through an existing larger culvert drain with wild mesh fitted either side.

Network Rail builds Scotland’s first ‘Beaver tunnel’ under the Highland mainline
 
How Texas Wildlife Crossings Are Saving Lives and Money

From South Texas’s simple ocelot culverts to San Antonio’s pioneering land bridge, these passageways can reduce car accidents and help animals thrive.

Its eyes two ghostly white spheres, a slim deer stands in the middle of the nighttime photo, serenely munching a branch. In the next picture, a coyote inspects the camera, its nose huge like that of a pet dog sniffing an iPhone. Then come fuzzy cottontail rabbits and a scraggly opossum. Taken in April by trailside cameras, the black and white pictures are—in their low-res way—historic. They are the first official recordings of animals using the largest wildlife crossing in the United States: the new Robert L. B. Tobin Land Bridge on San Antonio’s North Side. Measuring some 150 feet in both length and width, the structure arches gently over the traffic on the six-lane Wurzbach Parkway below. The final portion of the bridge opened to considerable media acclaim in April, with the express purpose of joining the two sides of Phil Hardberger Park and providing a safe passage for both the people and the countless wild animals that pass through its 330 wooded acres.

https://www-texasmonthly-com.cdn.am...ildlife-crossings-saving-lives-and-money/amp/
 
Banff Wildlife Crossings

Banff National Park
Improvement District No. 9, Alberta

Though many were skeptical at first, these animal-specific routes across the Trans-Canada Highway have been a major conservation success

As Highway Systems Have Grown in North America, collisions between wildlife and vehicles have become a massive problem. These accidents include animals of all sizes, from elk to snakes, and each one takes a toll on the environment. Not only can these collisions cause harm for both the driver and the animal, roadways that cut through animals’ natural habitats can also cut off migration routes. For over 20 years now, the solution in Banff National Park has been its wildlife crossings, several dozen bridges that help animals cross the Trans-Canada Highway.

Banff Wildlife Crossings
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: MRJ
Simon Hampel said:
There is a fauna crossing on the Tonkin Highway, Western Australia

Animal Welfare a Priority with Our First Fauna Bridge

No humans allowed: Main Roads building WA's first animal bridge

Someone managed to get drone footage of an emu actually using the crossing and posted it on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CTmDMM0BKpw/

Also reposted on Facebook:

Tonkin Highway Emu Crossing
Click to expand...

Wow, very interesting! It reminds me of the ones constructed in Utah mentioned earlier in this thread.
 
A Freeway For Wildlife: Groundbreaking Wildlife Crossing Planned For Conejo Valley Close To Start Of Construction

Work on Highway 101 overcrossing in Agoura Hills could start by end of year.
A project to help save the lives of wildlife like mountain lions which was little more than a dream a decade ago is now close to overcoming its biggest hurdle, which is raising the final dollars to pay for it.

"This is a wildlife crossing that will span ten lanes of the 101 Freeway in Agoura Hills," said Beth Pratt, the California Regional Executive Director of the National Wildlife Federation. For the last decade, she’s helped spearhead the Liberty Canyon overcrossing, which would be the world’s largest overcrossing of its type.

"It will not just be a bridge. You are basically putting kind of a landscaped park on top of the freeway, where animals will be crossing," said Pratt.

A Freeway For Wildlife: Groundbreaking Wildlife Crossing Planned For Conejo Valley Close To Start Of Construction
 
Wildlife crossing update - North Dakota Game & Fish Department.

"As traffic on US Highway 85 increased exponentially with oil activity in western North Dakota, so did collisions between vehicles and wildlife trying to cross over the highway.

A wildlife crossing was constructed last year near the north unit of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park and is now being used by a variety of animals including Bighorn sheep, to safely cross under the highway."

 
Endangered hazel dormice to get first ever dedicated railway crossing

Engineers are building a tiny railway crossing for wild hazel dormice in a bid to save the endangered species from extinction.

The new ‘dormouse bridge’ will be the first of its kind on the railway when it’s built next summer on the Furness line* in Lancashire.

Wild hazel dormice have declined by a staggering 51% since 2000**. This project aims to tackle that decline by establishing new dormouse populations in Lancashire but the selected sites are currently separated by the rail route in Morecambe Bay.

Endangered hazel dormice to get first ever dedicated railway crossing | RailBusinessDaily
 
How wildlife crossings in Canada are inspiring safer roads for global species
  • The stretch of Trans-Canada highway that runs through Banff National Park was once incredibly dangerous for animals and motorists alike, but today the park has more wildlife crossing structures than anywhere else in the world and the data to support their effectiveness.
  • The crossing structures at Banff inspired a project on I-90 in the U.S. state of Washington with its own location-specific twists.
  • Tribal efforts also led to a Banff-informed development project on US-93 in the Flathead Indian Reservation in Montana that respects local people and wildlife.
  • Lessons from Banff are informing projects beyond North America: In Costa Rica, emerging crossing structure projects protect jaguars and canopy-dwelling creatures.
  • There once was a stretch of Trans-Canada highway so perilous it was known as “The Meat Maker.” The then-infamous section of road that transects Banff National Park, a breathtaking expanse of mountainous terrain and glacial lakes in the Canadian Rockies, averaged about 100 elk-vehicle collisions each year.
https://news-mongabay-com.cdn.amppr...inspiring-safer-roads-for-global-species/amp/
 
Oregon Wildlife Crossings Bill Aims to Reduce Potentially Deadly Collisions

A measure in the Oregon Legislature aims to reduce vehicle collisions with wildlife.

House Bill 4130 would allocate $5 million for wildlife crossings in problem spots across the state. In Oregon, there are about 7,000 collisions with deer each year, costing Oregonians $44 million in total.

State Rep. Ken Helm, D-Beaverton, a chief sponsor of the bill, said there's broad support for wildlife crossings, including some Republican co-sponsors.

"These types of projects are not partisan," he said. "We've got Republicans and Democrats, senators and House reps on the bill already. It'll be a great bipartisan, bicameral effort and very popular. So, the enthusiasm is certainly there in this state."

OR Wildlife Crossings Bill Aims to Reduce Potentially Deadly Collisions
 
Public comment meetings this week on draft action plan of Wildlife Corridors Act

Darryl Lewis was driving on U.S. 64 south of Dulce at dusk after a day of hunting several years ago when his 1974 Chevy pickup slammed into an elk.

“One just jumped right out in front of me and totaled the front end,” said 59-year-old Lewis, a Santa Fe resident. The elk “got up and walked about 50 feet up the side of the hill and died right there.”

Lewis, who did not sustain any injuries, and his friend, who was driving in another vehicle behind him, called the Jicarilla Apache Nation’s Game and Fish Department and waited until help arrived.

Public comment meetings this week on draft action plan of Wildlife Corridors Act
 
The Big Read: Saving Singapore’s endangered species, one 'animal bridge' at a time
  • Even before the Mandai Wildlife Bridge opened in late 2019, the team behind it had been worried that animals would not take to the bridge
  • However, a week before the bridge's official opening, long-tailed macaques were already spotted using it. Wild pigs, rare sambar deers followed suit not long after
  • Still, roadkill continues to be an issue, with a critically endangered Sunda pangolin found dead in the area last year
  • While eco-bridges help, environmental experts stress the need to go beyond remedial solutions to the issue of habitats being destroyed through development works
  • Motorists and the general public need to be better educated when it comes to living alongside animals, they say
Making a wildlife crossing “animal ready” from day one was no child’s play for a team from the Mandai Wildlife Group (MWG) .

A year before the 2019 opening of the Mandai Wildlife Bridge, which was partly meant to address roadkill, flood lights pointing towards the forest edges along Mandai Lake Road were installed to discourage animals from crossing the road.

The Big Read: Saving Singapore’s endangered species, one 'animal bridge' at a time
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top