Wildlife under-crossing in central Oregon reaches milestone
The Oregon Department of Transportation reduced crashes and saved lives by constructing another wildlife undercrossing on busy U.S. 97 that will help keep animals off the roadway. ODOT Region 4 Environmental Program Coordinator Cidney Bowman talks about the latest addition to our highway system aimed at improving safety for all users, including the four-legged kind.
“Wildlife crossings are important to help prevent animals from being struck on the highway because when drivers hit the animals, the animals and the drivers can be injured or even killed, so we want to work to prevent that,” said Bowman.
The new crossing, just north of Gilchrist, is part of a project to build several new passing lanes on the highway – in an area that sees lots of heavy truck and tourist traffic. It was built in the same manner as the highly successful under-crossing closer to Bend on U.S. 97 that has reduced wildlife-vehicle crashes by as much as 95 percent.
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