Construction of the world’s largest wildlife bridge will get underway later this month in Southern California. After nearly a decade of planning, the biggest wildlife overpass ever has been greenlit and will have its groundbreaking ceremony on April 22nd, which is also Earth Day. The Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing will be 165 feet wide and stretch 210 feet across the 10 lanes of California’s Highway 101 in the Santa Monica mountains west of Los Angeles.
The project won’t just be the largest crossing in the world, but also an engineering marvel designed to seamlessly blend into the mountains and connect large tracts of the 150-thousand acre Santa Monica mountains recreation area. The bridge will have a buffer of local plants and trees on each side and allow animals — including big cats, coyotes, deer, lizards, and snakes — to avoid the 300-thousand cars that pass through the area each day.
The project has been made possible through a public-private partnership involving dozens of organizations with 60% of the $90-million price coming from private donations. A couple from Kansas who visited the city just once donated $675-thousand and Leonardo DiCaprio’s foundation donated $300-thousand for the project. The bridge is expected to take at least three years to complete.
Source: The Guardian