Safe Passages for Wildlife (and Cars)

Citizen-led Roaring Fork Safe Passages is pursuing wildlife overpasses and underpasses on Highway 82, a collision hotspot, to protect elk, deer and drivers in the Roaring Fork Valley.

By Catherine Lutz

Wildlife face a wide, dangerous obstacle on their path to their main water source, the Roaring Fork River. Highway 82 is nearly always filled with vehicles moving at high speed, and the consequences are high for deer, elk, mountain lions, foxes, and other animal residents of the valley as they forage, hunt, and otherwise move about their daily business.

It’s this challenge that local nonprofit Roaring Fork Safe Passages is trying to mitigate. The group seeks to build wildlife overpasses and underpasses—as well as improve fencing and sightlines—along stretches of Highways 82 and 133 that have been identified as important crossing points to reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions and reconnect fragmented habitats

The six-mile stretch of 82 between the Aspen-Pitkin County Airport and Aspen Village is the current top priority, and two crossings—an overpass east of the Brush Creek intersection and an underpass west of the western end of the airport runway—are the subject of a $400,000 engineering feasibility study for which Pitkin County approved partial funding earlier this year.

The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) considers this six-mile section a wildlife-vehicle collision hotspot, with 55% of reported collisions here involving wildlife and about 34% involving elk. Beyond the numbers is a near daily grisly reality, as detailed by Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office Patrol Deputy Cameron Daniel in a letter in support of Roaring Fork Safe Passages’ work. Daniel has been called to an increasing number of the aftermaths of such collisions, witnessing such traumas as fatally wounded animals trying to drag themselves off the highway and bear cubs that were hit along with their mothers wandering in confusion. Of course, humans are often affected too—hitting a large animal (or trying to avoid a collision) can cause serious injury to vehicle occupants and thousands of dollars in damage (if not totaled).

Don't miss the news.Get a weekly email digest from the Aspen Local editorial team.

Do not fill this field

Sign Up

There is a tailwind too. The construction timeframe and potential disruption for these projects are much shorter than most highway projects; they have broad public and government support; and they are local, citizen-led initiatives backed partially by philanthropic dollars that do come to fruition, according to RFSP Executive Director Cecily DeAngelo. Conservative estimates for the two crossings are $22.4 million to $32.5 million, and could be completed within three years of approvals.

There are more than 100 crossings already in Colorado, including two underpasses on I-70 near Gypsum and two on state Highway 13 north of Rifle. The state’s first such project, a series of seven overpasses and underpasses on Highway 9 near Kremmling saw a 92% reduction in vehicle-wildlife collisions after it was installed. And this spring, the Colorado Legislature passed the Wildlife Collision Prevention Act, which creates a fund for wildlife crossings to be funded by a $5 optional fee that can be voluntarily added during the vehicle registration process.

Roaring Fork Safe Passages has its eyes on future projects, including crossings in Snowmass Canyon, near Emma on Highway 82, and three more potential crossings between Brush Creek Road and Aspen Village.

“This work is important because, for one, it’s solvable and effective—over 90% collision reduction when coupled with fencing, making our roads safer for both wildlife and the people traveling them,” says DeAngelo. “But also because it speaks to who we are as a community and how we treat our wildlife and how we want this valley to continue to evolve.”

What Can I Do?

Interested in supporting Roaring Fork Safe Passages’ work to create wildlife crossings and reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions in the Roaring Fork Valley? Get involved with the group by signing up for its newsletter, following it on social, or joining its advocacy team. Writing letters to the editor and to local government officials is encouraged, as are donations to RFSP. And when your vehicle registration comes up for renewal, pay the $5 into the Collision Prevention Fund.