With a proposed design spanning 200 feet (61 meters) across the 101 freeway, Caltrans is moving along with plans to build the world’s largest wildlife crossing and the first of its kind near a major city. The proposed crossing will be an ecologically landscaped overpass that crosses both the Ventura (101) Freeway and Agoura Road in Agoura Hills, near the Liberty Canyon exit. Naturalized pathways on both sides of the overpass have been designed to prevent animals from seeing the lights from passing cars on the freeway.
The primary agencies and conservation groups involved with the project are: Caltrans, the National Park Service, the National Wildlife Federation (NWF), the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, the Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains and the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority (MRCA). The $87 million project has been funded mostly through private funds. Groundbreaking is set to begin within two years and is anticipated to be completed by 2023. The completed crossing will provide critical access by the locally endangered mountain lion population to larger areas needed to roam and breed. Other animals such as bobcats, coyotes, deer, lizards, and snakes will benefit from having a safer way to cross over this major thoroughfare to adjacent wildlife habitat.
More:
- California to build the largest wildlife crossing in the world. 2019, August 20. The Press Democrat.
- Cougar Crossing on Schedule, With Lots of Local Support. 2018, June 28. Malibu Times.
