The Foothill/Eastern Transportation Corridor Agency built the 10-12 feet high fence which is also buried 2 feet deep to deter animals from digging and crawling under it. It was built between 2014 and 2016 at a reported cost of about $10 million. The project won an international award.
“They went from one to two mountain lions dying to zero. Give credit to them,” Shilling said. The agency has not had a single road kill of lions, deer or bobcats along this section of the 241 since the project was completed in January 2016, said Doug Feremenga, environmental planning manager with the agency.
The Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing in Agoura Hills, under construction and set to open in early 2026, will span 10 lanes of the 101 Ventura Freeway at Liberty Canyon Road. “The bridge will allow for wildlife to cross freely over the 101 freeway without the threat of death or accidents, and will ensure the survival of many isolated species,” states the official website.
Shilling said the main attribute of the crossing is to allow mountain lions in the Santa Monica Mountains to safely cross into a vast rural territory of open space to the north, where they can mate with lions containing varying genetic material.
Inbreeding is causing genetic mutations and could lead to their extinction in 15 years, wildlife biologists say. Eventually, the loss of genetic diversity can lead to reduced birth and survival rates, a phenomenon dubbed “inbreeding depression.”
But he’s not so sure the lions will use the crossing, because they typically avoid areas with vehicle lights and noise. The 101 Freeway at the crossing sees 300,000 vehicles a day. “The crossing itself is a hypothetical solution until it is proven. You have to block all that traffic noise and lights,” he said.
The crossing developers will build tree-and-shrub entryways leading to the bridge entrances. And the bridge itself will be covered in soil, grasses, trees and greenery to lure cats into thinking it is an extension of the rural hillsides on each side of the freeway.
It will also have the first-ever vegetative sound wall, plus four feet of soil on the bridge for plantings to further absorb sound from cars traveling below, explained Beth Pratt, California regional executive director for the National Wildlife Federation and founder of The Wildlife Crossing Fund on Tuesday, July 2.
To cut down on light pollution, the crossing will be painted with a dark stain to absorb rather than reflect light, she said. Recently, students of Travis Longcore, an environmental scientist at UCLA and an expert on animals and light pollution, witnessed a barn owl fly across the crossing,
While a massive wildlife bridge is being built across the busy 101 Freeway at a cost of $92 million, some scientists say there is a better — and cheaper — way to stop animal roadway carnage.
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“Wildlife crossings don’t solve roadkill. Sure, they provide a safe way across the road but fencing is the only way we know that stops roadkill,” said Fraser Shilling, director of the UC Davis Road Ecology Center, a program of the Institute of Transportation Studies.
“Fencing remains the only way to reduce wildlife vehicle collisions on the statewide scale,” Shilling said in an interview June 19, shortly after his 11th report was released about animals killed on roadways, “Roadkill: A Preventable Natural Disaster.”
Shilling, who studies the intersection of transportation with wildlife sustainability, supports building more wildlife crossings but also more fencing along freeways and roadways adjacent to rural habitat — to prevent wild animals from trying to cross busy highways.
He pointed to a 6 1/2-mile fencing project on both sides of the 241 Toll Road in Orange County, stretching from the 261 Toll Road north to the 91 Freeway near Yorba Linda/Anaheim Hills as a model for fencing that saves the lives of mountain lions in the Santa Ana Mountains.
Wildlife-safety fence lines both sides of the 241 Toll Road south of The 91 Freeway in Anaheim, CA, on Tuesday, June 25, 2024. The fence is 10-12 feet high, with an 18-inch “outrigger” to prevent animals from climbing over, and is buried 2 feet deep to deter digging. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
The Foothill/Eastern Transportation Corridor Agency built the 10-12 feet high fence which is also buried 2 feet deep to deter animals from digging and crawling under it. It was built between 2014 and 2016 at a reported cost of about $10 million. The project won an international award.
“They went from one to two mountain lions dying to zero. Give credit to them,” Shilling said. The agency has not had a single road kill of lions, deer or bobcats along this section of the 241 since the project was completed in January …read more
Source:: The Mercury News – Entertainment
