NORTH CAROLINA (WATE) — As repairs continue on I-40 after Hurricane Helene washed out part of the interstate at the Tennessee-North Carolina state line, the North Carolina Department of Transportation found a creative solution to protect endangered bats that called the old Pigeon River bridge near Exit 15 home.
The first-of-its-kind bat habitat was thought up by Kenny McCourt, an N.C. Department of Transportation resident engineer. He oversees a set of bridge replacement projects on Interstate 40 in Haywood County. He was working to find the best way to accommodate the bats since the new design did not fit the roosting boxes traditionally used.
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“Me and my little girl, Harper, were sitting around the kitchen table actually watching Animal Planet,” McCourt said. “And I was sitting with the notebook drawing up some ideas on how to take it off the bridge — and it hit me.”
He realized he could put the bat habitats right into the Boulderscape wall and provide the bats with a more natural habitat. The idea gained traction and soon engineers and wildlife experts were working together to design the roosting spaces built into the new bridge wall. The space will provide a home for several species, including the endangered gray bat.
“Bats have been observed roosting in the bridge here crossing the Pigeon River, and the new bridge isn’t going to have suitable roosting habitat like the old one,” said Holland Youngman, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife biologist. “So, we’re putting bat roosts in this retaining wall to give the bats somewhere else to go. I think it’s very new and innovative and creative.”…