{"id":715902,"date":"2026-06-05T03:28:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T03:28:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/715902\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T03:28:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T03:28:08","slug":"mule-deer-already-using-incomplete-20m-wildlife-bridge-in-california-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/715902\/","title":{"rendered":"Mule deer already using incomplete $20m wildlife bridge in California | California"},"content":{"rendered":"

A trio of mule deer have already scuttled across a not-quite-finished $20m wildlife bridge in Siskiyou county, marking a triumph for the California<\/a> department of transportation (Caltrans).<\/p>\n

The bridge with its accompanying fencing over Route 97 in Siskiyou county is the first wildlife crossing constructed over a major highway in California. The project promises to both improve driver safety and reduce mortality for migrating mule deer, elk and other animal species.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is our first over-crossing laboratory in California,\u201d said Fraser Shilling, the director of the Road Ecology Center at the University of California, Davis. \u201cIt gives us a structure to learn how to make them better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Within the last few days, a camera trap caught images<\/a> of three mule deer using the structure for the first time.<\/p>\n

The wildlife bridge still under construction in Siskiyou county, California, in 2025. Photograph: Road Ecology Center, University of California, Davis<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the contractor is still completing final touches, it\u2019s incredible to see wildlife already embracing the new structure, even with workers still in the area,\u201d Caltrans district two posted in a message to Facebook<\/a>. \u201cIn addition to deer, a bobcat and other wildlife have also been spotted using it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bridge itself is completed and ready to use. The only thing that remains is some final touches on the adjacent fencing, which is needed to funnel wildlife toward the crossing, said Shilling.<\/p>\n

\u201cWildlife crossings by themselves do not stop roadkill,\u201d Shilling said in an interview. \u201cIt\u2019s the fencing associated with them that stops roadkill.\u201d<\/p>\n

A 2024 report by the Road Ecology Center<\/a> that Shilling co-authored called vehicle crashes into wildlife \u201ca damaging and preventable natural disaster\u201d wrecking havoc on both animals and drivers.<\/p>\n

California drivers kill nearly 50,000 mule deer annually, according to the report. That figure accounts for roughly 10% of the state\u2019s deer herd. Nearly 100 mountain lions die every year in car crashes, the report also says, along with thousands of other animals from a wide array of species.<\/p>\n

The new crossing takes a step toward mitigating those preventable deaths. Some 50 deer and 16 elk died<\/a> at the site of the crossing from 2015 to 2020, according to Caltrans.<\/p>\n

More crossings are scheduled to open in the near future. The largest of them, the Wallis Annenberg wildlife crossing in southern California, will become the world\u2019s largest<\/a> after its scheduled opening at the end of the year. The bridge spans the breadth of the 10-lane 101 freeway.<\/p>\n

Shilling praised Caltrans for taking the bold step of using its own funds to implement the trailblazing crossing over Route 97 that will make the roads safer, while improving wildlife populations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re heroic,\u201d Shilling said of the Caltrans staff. \u201cWithin agencies like that, doing anything different means you\u2019ve got big ovaries.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A trio of mule deer have already scuttled across a not-quite-finished $20m wildlife bridge in Siskiyou county, marking…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":715903,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[49,48,66,323],"class_list":["post-715902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/715902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=715902"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/715902\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/715903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=715902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=715902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=715902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}