{"id":505469,"date":"2026-10-23T15:40:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-23T15:40:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/505469\/"},"modified":"2026-10-23T15:40:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-23T15:40:11","slug":"worlds-largest-wildlife-crossing-nears-completion-in-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/505469\/","title":{"rendered":"World&#8217;s largest wildlife crossing nears completion in California"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"article-paragraph skip\">California is known for its giant, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.popsci.com\/technology\/bullet-bus-california\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">multi-laned highways<\/a> bustling under bright blue skies. And while this infrastructure is useful to humans, the Golden State\u2019s many highways represent an almost impenetrable barrier for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.popsci.com\/category\/wildlife\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wildlife<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph skip\">Soon, habitats on either side of the 10-laned 101 Freeway in Agoura Hills, California will be reconnected thanks to the world\u2019s largest <a href=\"https:\/\/www.popsci.com\/environment\/national-parks-wildlife-conservation-corridors\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wildlife crossing<\/a>, according to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/environment\/story\/2026-10-08\/wallis-annenberg-wildlife-crossing-is-on-track-to-open-this-winter-unless-el-nino-intervenes\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Los Angeles Times<\/a>. <a href=\"https:\/\/101wildlifecrossing.org\/\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing <\/a>is scheduled for completion on December 2.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph skip\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.worldwildlife.org\/resources\/explainers\/what-are-wildlife-crossings-and-how-do-they-save-lives\/\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Wildlife crossings<\/a> are structures that help animals safely cross roads. In the United States, collisions between motorists and large animals take place more than a million times a year. Experts estimate that this results in 400 human deaths every year. But the problem isn\u2019t just road accidents. Habitat fragmentation is also a concern, especially for species that require a large range. Inbreeding can occur if a small enough group of animals becomes isolated.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph skip\">In the Los Angeles area, <a href=\"https:\/\/mountainlion.org\/about-mountain-lions\/\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">mountain lions<\/a> (Puma concolor), also known as pumas or cougars, are currently the species most vulnerable to genetic isolation caused by roads and development, according to the project\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/101wildlifecrossing.org\/about-the-project\/\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">website<\/a>. And the 101 Freeway appears to be the most important obstacle, out of all the roads in the area, to the region\u2019s ecological health.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1324\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/wildlife-crossing-embed.png\" alt=\"an illustration of a wildlife crossing over a busy multi-lane highway showing what animals will use it. they include coyotes, mule deers, southern alligator lizards, california thrashers, desert cottontails, harvester ants, mountain lions, western toads, california bats, golden eagles, and bobcats\" class=\"wp-image-790884\" style=\"width:927px;height:auto\"  \/>Some of the many species that will benefit from the crossing. Image: Living Habitats\/Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph skip\">As such, the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing aims to reconnect local plants and animals in the ecosystem of the Santa Monica Mountains. \u00a0It\u2019s about 210 feet long and about 170 to 174 feet wide. A thick, sturdy-looking vegetation-covered <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/101wildlifecrossing\/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">bridge<\/a> already straddles the busy freeway\u2014but the weather might throw a wrench in the project\u2019s schedule.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph skip\">\u201cWe\u2019re just hoping El Ni\u00f1o\u2018s on our side,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bethpratt.com\/about\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Beth Pratt<\/a>, president of the Wildlife Crossing Fund, tells the Los Angeles Times, in reference to the climate pattern that typically brings <a href=\"https:\/\/www.noaa.gov\/understanding-el-nino\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">wetter winter weather<\/a> along the United States\u2019 southern border. Flooding would put work on pause, according to the outlet. \u201cI keep saying, \u2018Mother Nature, we\u2019re trying to help you. Let\u2019s not throw any more complications our way.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\t\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1792770011_955_home-of-the-future-header.jpg\" class=\"max-w-[100%] object-center\" alt=\"2026 Home of the Future header\" loading=\"lazy\" fetchpriority=\"low\"\/>\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>2026 Popular Science Home of the Future Awards<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-title\">39 products that will improve your everyday life.<\/p>\n<p>\t\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Margherita is a trilingual freelance science writer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"California is known for its giant, multi-laned highways bustling under bright blue skies. And while this infrastructure is&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":505470,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,100],"class_list":["post-505469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=505469"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505469\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/505470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=505469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=505469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=505469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}