The wildlife overpass under construction on Interstate 25 between Larkspur and Monument will be the “world’s largest bridge structure built for wildlife,” officials said in a release Friday as they marked the project’s halfway point.
Measuring 200 feet wide and 209 feet long, the massive I-25 Greenland Wildlife Overpass will cover nearly an acre once completed. It will span six lanes of traffic, on a stretch of the interstate traveled by more than 100,000 vehicles each day, according to the Colorado Department of Transportation.
While significantly shorter than the half-mile-long Zanderij Crailoo Nature Bridge in the Netherlands, Colorado’s overpass is wider. It’s also wider than California’s Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing, which is currently under construction and will span 10 lanes of traffic.
With the stretch of the interstate between Castle Rock and Monument averaging “one wild-life vehicle crash a day in the spring and fall seasons,” officials say the bridge is expected to reduce wildlife collisions by 90%…