ODOT has been awarded $33 million to construct a bridge for animals over one of the state’s most perilous sections of highway
TK: Artist’s rendering looking southeast at a proposed wildlife crossing over I-5 in southern Oregon. Several locations for the project are being considered under a feasibility study. Image: ODOT
By Kendra Chamberlain. January 8, 2025. The terrain south of Ashland, Ore., stretching to the California border sits at an incredible intersection of ecological systems.
Here, the ancient Siskiyou Mountains meet the volcanic Cascades, the high desert of the Great Basin, the Klamath Mountains and the oak woodlands of Northern California.
Dubbed an “ecological wonderland” and home to an impressive list of flora and fauna, the area was designated as the Cascade–Siskiyou National Monument in 2000.
Plowing through all that biodiversity is Interstate 5, which carries 17,000 vehicles per day. The four-lane interstate essentially severs the monument into two.
Animals don’t have an easy time getting from one side of the road to the other. Due to its location, however, the area is a hotbed of wildlife activity and considered to be a “red zone” for vehicle collisions.