Wildlife crossings gain traction upvalley

Wildlife crossings in Pitkin County are one step closer to reality.

Roaring Fork Safe Passages just hit a fundraising goal, raising $200,000 for an engineering feasibility study on a proposed overpass and underpass north of the Aspen/Pitkin County Airport.

In December, Pitkin County Open Space & Trails recommended the county allocate a matching amount for a total of $400,000. The organization will go before Pitkin County commissioners to request final approval of that funding in the coming weeks.

Last year, Safe Passages released a mitigation plan for wildlife-vehicle collisions. The report recommended the county build a wildlife bridge over Highway 82 near the Brush Creek Park and Ride and expand a tunnel closer to the airport.

The Colorado Department of Transportation found that between 2014 and 2023, more than half of all collisions on the six miles of highway north of the airport involved wildlife.

A study from CDOT demonstrated how wildlife crossings over or under highways successfully eliminate the vast majority of these collisions.

Colorado has become a national leader in constructing animal corridors, but the state has yet to resolve the lack of safe wildlife crossings on Highway 82.

“We're super lucky,” said Cecily DeAngelo, executive director of Roaring Fork Safe Passages. “We live in a state that's an advocate of this work. We are in a country that's starting to actually fund this in a bipartisan way, and I think that Pitkin County is moving in the right direction.”

She says Safe Passages needs a feasibility study to fully understand the engineering requirements of its proposed crossings and assess alternatives.

The Brush Creek crossing, for example, may not need to be an overpass.

“If an underpass is going to be cheaper, or work just as well for the wildlife there, then that is the structure that we will recommend,” DeAngelo said. “But you just have to get a little into the engineering process before you can really determine that type of recommendation.”

Safe Passages’ analysis estimated the final project would cost between $22 and $32 million. DeAngelo hopes some of that could come from a bipartisan bill introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives in November.

The nonprofit is also advocating for funding through state legislation. Colorado set aside $5 million for wildlife crossings in 2022, but that has since run dry.

Safe Passages recently partnered with the Colorado Wildlife and Transportation Alliance on a video campaign highlighting the dangers of wildlife collisions, which they hope will motivate legislative action.

But DeAngelo is cognizant of the state’s budget constraints and isn’t banking on its support.

“I think there's a world in which we don't lean that heavily on the state,” she said. “There are a lot of ways to fund these projects.”