The amount of wildlife hit and killed by motorists in Colorado has grown by nearly 50 percent in the last four years and two state agencies are now streamlining efforts to reduce these deadly collisions.
Nearly 7,000 wild animals were cut down by passing trucks and cars in 2016, according to roadkill survey data from the Colorado Department of Transportation, resulting in two human fatalities and almost 400 injuries. Year over year since 2013, the CDOT region that includes Summit County has had the highest wildlife mortality rate, with almost 2,100 deaths — roughly 81 percent of which were deer or elk.
Specifically, the stretches north of Silverthorne toward Green Mountain Reservoir and on the Summit side of Vail Pass on Interstate 70 are hot spots for the county. Knowing that the Western Slope and entire western side of the state experience the majority of these animal-vehicle crashes — more than 60 percent of the state total last year — helped to initiate a priority study for planning mitigation techniques.
“At this point, I think a lot of the problems are on the West Slope,” said Mike Vanderhoof, a planning and environmental manager for CDOT. “We agree,” the rest of the state has mounting issues, too, “we just have a little bit of a head start on the West Slope side.”
Just outside of Summit in neighboring Grand County beyond Green Mountain Reservoir, a $40 million project got underway in 2015 to install seven animal crossings along State Highway 9 in another particular trouble area. Three underpasses and one overpass leading to Kremmling were completed first, followed by another overpass and two underpasses the next year closer to the reservoir.
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