Perhaps rephrase as “designed as an underpass”. These things already are funnels for prey. I doubt a lot of wildlife is going to feel comfortable going through a tunnel. Humans don’t like going through tunnels to cross highways…
Because I agree about the cost of these things. They should be designed to be inexpensive so we can put them everywhere (eg: i90 through cascades… there is only 1 of these and it’s on the east side of the pass).
It annoys me greatly how seemingly over engineered and expense these are. We put a huge fence that divides the entire mountain range. These bridges should be all over.
That being said I’m pretty sure a lot of research goes into designing a wildlife bridge that animals want to cross. I think there was a practical engineering YouTube video that covered it. Turns out each species has their own preferences and peculiarities when it comes to this sort of thing. So to counter my own argument… it does no good to build a ton of these if no animals will actually feel comfortable using them.
Maybe they should fund some kind of wildlife outreach program and give brochures and flyers to the local wildlife explaining how to use their new overpass…
> Maybe they should fund some kind of wildlife outreach program and give brochures and flyers to the local wildlife explaining how to use their new overpass…
For the Snoqualmie bridge, (some of) the local wildlife trespassed to use it before it opened, so I'm not sure if they need to do much outreach.
I think the better projects include post construction observation and reasonable minor modifications to help encourage use; typically adjustments to fencing or maybe some earth works.
Because I agree about the cost of these things. They should be designed to be inexpensive so we can put them everywhere (eg: i90 through cascades… there is only 1 of these and it’s on the east side of the pass).
It annoys me greatly how seemingly over engineered and expense these are. We put a huge fence that divides the entire mountain range. These bridges should be all over.
That being said I’m pretty sure a lot of research goes into designing a wildlife bridge that animals want to cross. I think there was a practical engineering YouTube video that covered it. Turns out each species has their own preferences and peculiarities when it comes to this sort of thing. So to counter my own argument… it does no good to build a ton of these if no animals will actually feel comfortable using them.
Maybe they should fund some kind of wildlife outreach program and give brochures and flyers to the local wildlife explaining how to use their new overpass…