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Safe Passage
U.S. Highway 160 underpasses for animals, humans could be part of Obama package, groups say
Herald Staff Writer
Photo by YODIT GIDEY/Herald
Webcams capture success of Wyoming deer underpass
The Associated PressGREEN RIVER, Wyo. – New webcams photographed about 800 deer, a few antelope and a bull elk using wildlife underpasses along U.S. 30 in Nugget Canyon in southwestern Wyoming.
The state installed six deer underpasses last summer in its latest and largest effort to assist migrating mule deer cross the busy highway and protect motorists from collisions with big game animals.
The new webcam data is showing the animals are already taking to the tunnels, Wyoming Department of Transportation officials said.
The busy highway lies in the middle of one of the state’s largest big game winter ranges used by the 30,000-animal Wyoming Range mule deer herd.
The recently captured images of big game animals using the underpasses seem to confirm the success of the project, WYDOT spokeswoman Theresa Herbin said. Officials had already observed a big drop in vehicle-animal collisions, but the webcams have now documented that deer are traveling through the tunnels.
Herbin said during a seven-day period beginning Dec. 16, the new webcams documented almost 800 animals using the six underpasses.
“The images clearly show that they are using them,” Herbin said. “Based on the counts from each underpass and how many were passing through it ... it’s showing they are using it and using it heavily.”
WYDOT, in collaboration with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, finished the $3.8 million project in October. It included the construction of 12 miles of fence and the six underpasses.
The wildlife-proof fences line the 15-mile stretch of the highway and funnel the deer into the 12-foot-high underpasses.
The six underpasses augment another underpass already in use by big game animals in Nugget Canyon.
Deer mortality in the canyon has been a significant concern over the years, and particularly in recent years as the Wyoming Range mule deer herd has declined in number. The risks to motorists is also a huge concern.
About 14,000 mule deer cross the highway at least twice a year during spring and fall migration as they move to and from their winter range.
Game and Fish and WYDOT data from wildlife/highway studies show, on average, about 130 mule deer have been killed each year in vehicle collisions since 1990.
Herbin said the majority of deer killed in Nugget Canyon are adult and yearling females. Agency officials worry the mortality rate could have an impact on the Game and Fish’s population herd objective of 50,000 animals.
Meeting Friday
Representatives from three transportation planning areas in the Colorado Department of Transportation’s Region 5 will meet for onsite and video-conference meetings Friday in Durango and Alamosa. The representatives will set priorities for seeking funding from the Economic Stimulus Plan to be initiated under the incoming Obama administration.
The meeting in Durango – open to the public – is scheduled to start at 8:30 a.m. at CDOT headquarters, 3803 Main Ave.
CDOT Region 5 includes Alamosa, Archuleta, Chaffee, Conejos, Costilla, Dolores, La Plata, Mineral, Montezuma, Ouray, Rio Grande, Saguache, San Juan and San Miguel counties and the southern portion of Montrose County.
But planning for one passage the coalition is urging - which would go under U.S. Highway 160 near Farmington Hill - isn't nearly far enough along to qualify for the first round of funding, says a transportation official.
The Colorado Safe Passage Coalition is pushing for a crossing under U.S. Highway 160 near its intersection with U.S. Highway 550 (just east of Farmington Hill). Members of the coalition say the passage in Wilson Gulch could serve pedestrians and bicyclists as well as wildlife.
Culverts, bridges and fencing could save lives of people and wildlife, they say. A controversial electronically operated warning system along Highway 160 east of the Florida River is designed to alert motorists to the presence of deer in one of the deadliest areas in the state for deer/vehicle accidents.
Coalition members and supporters intend to voice their opinion Friday at a meeting of CDOT Region 5 representatives who will be setting priorities for the federal funding. A priority must be "ready to go," meaning that within 180 days of Jan. 20, right-of-way acquisition and environmental approval must be in place and the project must be advertised for construction bidding. The objective of fast-track action is to get money circulating quickly to help heal a wounded U.S. economy.
Region 5 representatives will set priorities for $20.4 million and $39.5 million worth of projects - its share of the $250 million to $500 million the state could receive as economic stimulus.
A passage beneath Highway 160 at Farmington Hill that the outdoors organizations envision is, indeed, planned for that location, Richard Reynolds, the CDOT Region 5 director, said Tuesday. The plan is environmentally sound but is conceptual in nature and several years away from being realized because other things must happen first.
"There's no exact location because location would depend on whether the passage is for wildlife, pedestrians or a drainage culvert," Reynolds said. "There are no design drawings because there's no money."
Everything related to a wildlife/pedestrian/bicycle passage under Highway 160 at Farmington Hill depends on plans to move the Highway 550/160 interchange farther east, Reynolds said. First, a review to assure that no archaeological artifacts would be endangered must be done. Then there would be the actual realignment of Highway 550 toward the east. The whole process could take up to four years, he said.
"This is no six-month-away project," Reynolds said. "The 180-day requirement relates to economic stimulus. They say that every $1 billion of stimulus creates 35,000 jobs."
Nevertheless, CDOT economic-stimulus projects can create a multi-modal transportation system for people as well as benefit wildlife, Monique DiGiorgio, the conservation strategist for the Western Environmental Law Center, said Tuesday while surveying the Wilson Gulch site.
DiGiorgio's organization is part of the Colorado Safe Passage Coalition along with Colorado Wild, the San Juan Citizens Alliance, the Center for Native Ecosystems and the Wildlands Network. The coalition has asked CDOT to invest 1 percent of its stimulus dollars in safe passages for wildlife.
"No matter what the project, we need to invest in complete transportation systems," DiGiorgio said. "We need multi-modal transportation systems - bike and pedestrian paths, roads with adequate shoulders and park-and-ride facilities."
The proposed realignment of county roads 222 and 223 where they meet at Highway 160 east of Elmore's Corner is a great location to create a broad-benefits package, including safe passages for wildlife, DiGiorgio said. A Farmington Hill project should include passage for people because there are many other places along Highway 160 that can accommodate wildlife, she said.
The Durango Wheel Club, one of the largest (250 members) and oldest bicycle organizations in Colorado, is interested in crossings under major highways, said club chairman Spencer Compton, who joined DiGiorgio and Jeanine Justice of Healthy Lifestyles La Plata, Tuesday at Wilson Gulch.
"Since discussion of safe passages has expanded beyond wildlife, we're interested," Compton said. "We're always looking for ways to cross big highways without causing trouble."
Justice said her organization's Active Community Environments committee is working to get the "complete streets" philosophy incorporated into urban planning.
"We need built (urban)environments that allow people to be active, to get out and walk or ride their bike or take the bus," Justice said. "We want to advocate that CDOT projects allow people those possibilities."
SMART (Safe Multi-modal Aesthetic Regional Transportation) 160, a project sponsored by La Plata County and the city of Durango, has been working for a decade to create a path for pedestrians and bicyclists from Durango to Bayfield that would run parallel to Highway 160. The organization has right-of-way agreements in the Grandview area with La Plata County and the Three Springs development, which has built 1.5 miles of trail in Grandview.
The Animas River Trail, a bike/pedestrian path - not fully built yet - that follows the waterway from about 32nd Street to River Road near Farmington Hill, is supposed to connect to the SMART 160 trail. Where it joins SMART 160 after taking leave of the Animas is still undetermined.
"We hope there will be an underpass to connect the trails," said Mary Monroe, executive director of Trails 2000. "The sections of the SMART 160 where easements are in place meet the economic-stimulus criteria. We hope that some of those dollars come to La Plata County."
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