Los Angeles county’s 101 Freeway will be closed overnight on weekdays for several weeks as crews construct a large new wildlife crossing.
The new crossing will span 10 lanes of highway and aim to provide safe passage for wildlife from the Santa Monica Mountains into the Simi Hills of the Santa Susana mountain range.
According to California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) officials, major highways are barriers to wildlife, affecting animals’ movement and gene pools.
Starting Monday, all southbound lanes of the highway in the Agoura Hills area will be closed from Cheseboro Road to Liberty Canyon Road for about five hours beginning at 11:59 p.m. PT on weekdays, according to Caltrans.
Closures will shift to northbound lanes as work on the crossing progresses.
“These closures are for the safety of the public while crews place girders over the freeway to construct the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing, a vegetated bridge across Highway 101 to reconnect wildlife habitat,” Caltrans said in a statement.
The schedule is subject to change because of weather conditions or operational reasons, and detours on local streets will be provided.
More than 5,000 individual contributions were made for building the crossing, Caltrans said when the project began. It is named for the president and CEO of the Annenberg Foundation, a family foundation that supports non-profits.
The crossing will provide habitat access to coyotes, bobcats, deer, snakes, lizards, toads and even ants, but cougars will be among its chief beneficiaries, the National Parks Service has said.
As the project nears completion in 2025, the bridge will be covered in soil and native plants to blend in with the natural surroundings.
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Source: CNN
