sunny skyz · 9 hours ago

Colorado's Massive Wildlife Overpass Has Reduced Animal Collisions by 91%

For six years, engineers, biologists, and conservationists worked to solve a problem most drivers never thought about: the highway cutting through Colorado's landscape wasn't just dangerous - it was severing the ancient pathways animals have traveled for generations. Since opening, North America's largest wildlife overpass has reduced animal-vehicle collisions near Larkspur by 91%, with elk herds, pronghorn, bears, and even small amphibians now crossing safely where before about one deer a day was struck during migration season. Biologists arranged logs along the bridge to shelter smaller creatures from predators mid-crossing - a quiet detail that speaks to how carefully the project considered every life it might protect. For wildlife biologist Brandon Marette, six years of planning distilled into a single photograph: "an elk mama taking her calf under I-25 - just standing there in safety, getting to the other side." As one of the project's collaborators observed, it is "one of the most altruistic things you can do because it's not just for you; it is for everyone" - a reminder that some of the most meaningful human choices are made on behalf of those who will never know to thank us.