In the mountains near Vail, the state is planning to build the first wildlife bridge in Colorado history, while near Boulder, wildlife specialists are considering protecting elk by either building a wildlife underpass or fitting the animals with collars that would trigger lights warning of their presence.
The measures are a result of an upsurge in car-animal accidents as human use of highways grows and habitats shrink.
A study compiled by Montana State University for the Federal Highway Administration reported last week that accidents between animals and vehicles increased 50 percent between 1990 and 2004 — from less than 200,000 per year in 1990 to 300,000 in 2004.
The collisions usually kill the animals and “can pose a threat to the very survival of certain species,” the researchers concluded.
Nine Canada lynx — listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act — have been killed in recent years in Colorado, two on Interstate 70 on West Vail Pass.
Now, a coalition that includes the Colorado Department of Transportation, the Southern Rockies Ecosystem Project and natural-resource agencies wants to build a bridge over I-70 in that area to reconnect critical wildlife habitat.
The goal of the bridge is to not only protect the Canada lynx, but other wildlife including moose, mountain lion, black bear and elk.
“We have a lot going on in Colorado as far as planning for wildlife underpasses and overpasses,” said Monique DiGiorgio, director of the Southern Rockies Ecosystem Project. “One was the convening of a wildlife panel for the West Vail Pass bridge. They decided on the exact location of the bridge.”
DiGiorgio said CDOT has $420,000 set aside for the preliminary design of the bridge.
She believes construction will start within five years.
DiGiorgio’s organization has 49 motion-triggered cameras along I-70 between Copper Mountain and Vail that document wildlife movement. That will help pinpoint the best locations for additional wildlife bridges and underpasses.
“We have 4,000 images of elk, black bear, deer and other species from the past three years,” she said.
Concerns about wildlife and vehicle collisions are not limited to the I-70 corridor.
Each year, seven to 15 elk are hit and killed on U.S. 36 between Boulder and Lyons.
Boulder County officials want to protect the herd and motorists. Wildlife-vehicle collisions kill more than 200 motorists and injure thousands more each year with an annual cost of $200 million to society, according to the Federal Highway Administration.
Dave Hoerath, wildlife specialist for Boulder County Parks and Open Space, said the aim of Boulder planners is to “modify driver behavior to make it safe for the drivers and the elk.”
The solutions being contemplated in Boulder range from fitting the elk with collars that would trigger warning lights along the highway to building animal underpasses.
A simpler solution would be a new night-time highway speed limit that would slow drivers at dusk and in the early morning when the herd tends to move.
As of now, said Hoerath, two very large reflector signs tell drivers they are entering a wildlife crossing.
“We are at a very infant stage — a goal-setting stage,” he said. “We have to approach the two highway departments (the FHA and CDOT). We can’t do it unilaterally. We don’t have bottomless dollars.”
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com
