DENVER — Just like vehicles, Colorado's wildlife also needs a safe lane to travel.
A bill awaiting the governor's signature could help with that by bringing more wildlife crossings to the state.
"The system here on the I-25 South Gap project is projected to reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions by about 90%," said Chuck Attardo, I-25 environmental manager for the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT). "If we're successful like we're all promising people, we're going to reduce the number of injuries that people incur while traveling the corridor."
He said animals like elk, deer, black bears and small mammals are already using these underpasses, and CDOT has identified more locations across the state that need wildlife crossings.
"We have hundreds in waiting that we need to construct," said Attardo. “There are projects, more projects that are east of Durango on 160 that we need to build. Those are very high on our priority list, as well as projects on US 40 between Craig and Steamboat. Both 160 and 40 have huge migration corridors for these large mammals and they’re crossing our roads at grade and getting hit.”
He says there are at least 4,000 wildlife-vehicle collisions each year in Colorado.
"Most go underreported and we think that number is more like 14,000 every year," said Attardo. “On this project alone, 17 black bears hit in a span of 3.5 years, ten mountain lions hit in the span of three years. That’s significant because mountain lions are so elusive and have a huge range. We can’t go on living like that around our state.”
The financial costs of these collisions are high.
"Each year, so many Colorado motorists are in collisions with wildlife that they end up paying out of pocket over $80 million a year," said State Sen. Jessie Danielson (D), who sponsored the bill.
"The entire program, if fully funded, would cost about $125 million," she said. "But what we're leveraging with the investment at the state level is that the majority of that could be funded by the federal government."
Danielson said fewer collisions with wildlife could make a big difference.
"They estimate that there are more female mule deer killed on the side of the road each year than are harvested by hunters," she said. "I think it's up to the state to do something about it. To protect the wildlife that we love so much in Colorado and also protect the motorists from costly and harmful collisions with that wildlife."
Several areas for future wildlife crossings have already been identified. Attardo said some of their priorities are:
- East of Durango on State Highway 160
- US-40 between Craig and Steamboat
- I-70 near Genesee, Empire and East Vail Pass
- I-25 near the New Mexico border
- Greeley and northeast Nebraska/Kansas, I-76 corridor
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