One of the saddest aspects of freeway systems is the roadkill that inevitably results. Planners have had good luck in protecting animals with wildlife crossings that arch overhead and give creatures a chance to safely make their way across.
On April 22, groundbreaking takes place for California's first freeway wildlife crossing—and the world's largest. It will connect two open-space preserves in Liberty Canyon in Agoura Hills, California, on either side of the busy ten-lane 101 freeway, as reported by the Independent. This road winds through the Santa Monica Mountains and the crossing will be known as the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing. Its $85 million price tag includes construction, maintenance and continued wildlife research.
So who's going to saunter across on hooves and paws while 300,000 cars per day zoom underneath? Among other creatures, the mountain lion—the local population of which would otherwise go extinct in 50 years, according to National Park Service research.
The idea for this wildlife bridge arose out of compassion for the plight of P-22 (the P is for 'puma'), a mountain lion who 'miraculously crossed two of the busiest freeways in the country,' reports the website of Save L.A. Cougars. The creature then became 'trapped and alone on a city island' in Los Angeles. P-22 got his own festival which is in its 7th year (the last few years held virtually) and Urban Wildlife Week with thousands of attendees, bringing needed attention to the proactive measures we can take to protect wildlife. He now lives safely in Griffith Park.
This project came together as a partnership between the National Wildlife Federation, the National Park Service, Caltrans, The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy and the Resource Conservancy District of the Santa Monica Mountains.
The first such crossing was built in France in the 1950s, and a handful have been scattered throughout the US, but previously only in rural areas. This is the first to cover a highly urban roadway, and will be 200 feet long by 165 feet wide: plenty of room to pad across.