It’s working!’ From Bobcats to Bears, Utah’s First Wildlife Bridge is a Hit–And They Have Video to Prove it

A video posted to Facebook in mid-November shows the outstanding success of the i-80 wildlife flyover in Utah, where moose, elk, small mammals, black bears, coyotes, and even what appears to be a porcupine cross with can be spotted. safety a dangerous stretch of road.

For wildlife researchers, it shows that the time it takes for animals to adapt to the use of wildlife overpasses may be years shorter than initially anticipated.

“From what we can tell, the number of accidents has dropped dramatically. At least initially, it appears that the investment in safety is paying off, ”Utah Department of Transportation spokesman John Gleason said at Salt Lake Tribune in 2019. “And we expected several years to pass before animals got used to using it, so this is great.”

Completed in 2018 by the Utah Dep. transportation and costing $ 5 million, the wildlife overpass was lobbied by a group called Save people Save animals, after a particular section of I-80 was named “Slaughter Row” due to the large number of traffic collisions with crossing wildlife.

The bridge incorporates miles of fencing in both directions on both sides of the road, funneling mammals to the bridge which is covered in dirt, rocks and logs to make it feel like a natural environment.

Not only do the animals use it instead of crossing the road further down the corridor, they treat it as their natural habitat. A cougar was recorded scratching and stretching on one of the logs, which it would not do in a state of stress.

RELATED: Green flyover will allow wildlife to cross 6 lanes of freeway

Car collisions are a real danger to millions of animals, but even 15 years ago, they already existed more than 700 crossing points for terrestrial and aquatic fauna in North America, with more and more construction each year, including the biggest in the world to help California’s isolated mountain lion populations, to be completed in 2021.

(CLOCK the video showing the wildlife crossings so far).

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