NCDOT partners with wildlife agencies on creative concept for bat habitat. Sometimes, it helps to step away from the workplace to get the creativity flowing. That’s what happened to Kenny McCourt, an N.C. Department of Transportation resident engineer overseeing a set of bridge replacement projects on Interstate 40 in Haywood County.
McCourt sought ways to address a delicate situation: Roosting boxes that accommodated endangered bats underneath an old Pigeon River bridge near Exit 15 didn’t fit into the new bridge design due to maintenance access needs.
With a little help from his daughter at home, he found a solution that may be replicated across the state and maybe even the nation…