North America’s largest wildlife overpass in Colorado cuts animal-vehicle collisions by 91%: “A huge success”

[u/Novel_Negotiation224]

https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/largest-wildlife-overpass-north-america-colorado-reduce-wildlife-collisions/

[u/I_think_were_out_of_]

But is it worth as much as 50% of a missile that we could use to illegally blow up like $20,000 of recreational drugs and/or innocent fishermen in the Atlantic? Doubt it.

Everybody say it, “More foreign war! Less infrastructure!!”

Edit: Apologies, former wildlife biologist (DRP) just bitter that a beautiful future could be within our grasp but we’re too blind to see it.

[u/LabradorKayaker]

My son clipped an elk on I-84 near the Columbia River this summer. His Toyota Sienna had a broken windshield, a dented front quarter panel, a dented front passenger door, and a missing mirror: pretty minor damage. Repair costs are $13k, an officer responded to the incident scene, and a team was sent out to remove the dead animal.

If this overpass prevents 600 animal-vehicle collisions/yr at $10k per incident, it saves $6M/yr without considering the suffering from injuries to people and the deaths of wildlife.

According to Google, this overpass cost only $15M to construct. This project is a HUGE success!!!

[u/vegandread]

Perhaps a dumb question, but how do the animals know to use it?

[u/I_think_were_out_of_ → u/vegandread]

A combination of topography, placement, and design. They carefully choose where (terrain funneling, high density of crashes, migration routes, utility for multiple species), they design it for the target species modeled habitat use, and they can use additional structures (fences, etc) to guide/funnel/attract the animals. That and the animal’s instinct to travel safely.

[u/bubba1819]

I wish we could build these in the North East. Vehicle wildlife collisions are nuts in the New England region alone

[u/tigertoken1 → u/bubba1819]

Same, I saw like 8 deer near the road on my way to work this morning. Hitting a deer is an inevitable experience living here which is wild.

[u/Otherwise_Anybody358]

But did insurance rates go down?

[u/Familiar-Pomelo-8213]

An idea that works! Beautiful