LITTLETON – For deer, the autumn time change Sunday morning means bother: a 16% spike in collisions with automobiles over the next week, regardless of years of security campaigns and the development of 75 particular crossings alongside highways.
Drivers in Colorado collided with at the very least 54,189 wild animals over the previous 15 years, in response to newly compiled Colorado Department of Transportation data. That’s far fewer than in lots of different states, reminiscent of Michigan, the place vehicle-life collisions usually quantity greater than 50,000 in a single yr.
The carnage — especially this time of year — more and more happens the place animals face the most individuals alongside the closely populated Entrance Vary, past the mountainous western half of the state that holds a lot of the remaining prime habitat, state data present.
State leaders and wildlife advocates gathered on Thursday close to one of many crossings alongside the high-speed C-470 beltway in southwest metro Denver to launch a security campaign.
“We’ve made wildlife crossings a precedence in our rural areas, and in addition more and more in city areas,” CDOT Director Shoshana Lew stated. “We can not put underpasses and overpasses in all places. Significantly right now of yr, we urge everybody to watch out of wildlife.”
Lew credited the crossings with containing collision numbers that may very well be a lot increased in Colorado, given the site visitors and the prevalence of deer and different wild animals. A lot of the state’s freeway development initiatives, such because the work on Interstate 25 north of Colorado Springs that features a giant wildlife bridge, will think about wildlife security wants, Lew stated.
The danger of collisions spikes this time of yr because of deer and elk migrating to decrease elevations, bringing extra animals throughout highways. The tip of daylight saving time additionally performs a job as extra drivers navigate roads throughout the comparatively low-visibility hours earlier than and after sundown, when deer usually transfer about.
In Colorado, the 54,189 vehicle-animal collisions that CDOT recorded from 2010 by way of 2024 triggered the deaths of 48 automobile occupants and greater than 5,000 accidents. The animals breakdown: 82% deer, 11% elk, 2% bears.
Ten counties the place automobiles hit essentially the most animals throughout that interval included 5 alongside the Entrance Vary — Douglas, Jefferson, El Paso, Larimer, and Pueblo — with a mixed whole of 12,791 collisions, state data present. That compares with 11,068 within the different 5 counties in western Colorado — La Plata, Montezuma, Garfield, Moffat, and Chaffee.
Colorado lawmakers over the previous twenty years have directed funds for the set up of increasingly more wildlife crossings, usually overpasses and underpasses mixed with fencing alongside highways. “These will be as much as 90% efficient in lowering collisions,” Environment America researcher Rachel Jaeger stated.
Most lately, in 2022, lawmakers arrange a wildlife protected passage fund with a $5.5 million funding for crossing development. That cash’s been spent. State transportation planners have recognized areas the place crossings are wanted, such because the stretch of U.S. 40 between the intersection with I-70 and the city of Empire, the place bighorn sheep stay.
Wildlife-vehicle collisions have proved persistent sufficient that security advocates have launched a social media marketing campaign and are mulling new methods, reminiscent of selling ridership on CDOT’s intercity Bustang buses as an animal-friendly solution to transfer.
“Depart your driving to an expert,” stated Danny Katz, director of the Colorado Public Interest Research Group. “Simply take public transportation.”
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