A wildlife bridge cut animal collisions by 91%

North America's largest wildlife overpass has cut animal-vehicle collisions along a stretch of Interstate 25 in Colorado by 91% since it opened in December. The bridge spans 209 by 200 feet near the Greenland exit, between Larkspur and Monument, where about one deer was hit each day during spring and fall migrations before construction. Chuck Attardo, an environmental manager with the Colorado Department of Transportation, said video feeds show elk herds crossing and pronghorn reaching the west side for the first time in decades. Bears and coyotes have used the crossing too. Biologists arranged logs along part of the bridge as cover for smaller animals, including the federally threatened Preble's meadow jumping mouse. The project took six years and includes five underpasses and fencing to guide animals in. Brandon Marette, a wildlife biologist with Colorado Parks and Wildlife, remembers a photo the department sent him of an elk mother walking her calf under the highway. "That elk with her calf was just standing there in safety," he said.