Imagine driving down the Mass. Pike and above you, on a bridge, you see a deer. Or maybe a bear?
A federal grant will provide funds to design a bridge in the Berkshires to help wildlife cross the highway. This has been a problem for animals for a long time.
“For more than a decade, we've been involved with looking at wildlife habitat connectivity, because animals need to be able to move to meet their daily, seasonal and dispersal needs,” said Jane Winn, the executive director of the Berkshire Environmental Action Team.
“So, just like us, using roads to get to the grocery store or to go visit family, animals need their paths to do this," Winn said. "And in Massachusetts, the [Turnpike] divides our state pretty well in half, north to south, so that it has stopped a lot of wildlife movement."
The federal government has committed to investing $1.7 million to design a single crossing along the Appalachian Trail over Interstate 90 in Becket, where one already exists for hikers.
"Right now we get no wildlife using it other than one bobcat that went halfway across,” Winn said.
The ideal bridge would accommodate both hikers and critters, Winn said, and would be designed to feel like a more natural crossing.
"There should be some sort of barrier to noise, as well," she said.
Winn said the story of a crash along that section of road is one of her most effective pleas for constructing a wildlife crossing there.
"There was a moose crossing the road that got hit by a car, and a woman in that car suffered permanent disabilities, including impaired mental function," Winn said. "And she came to talk to me about what this has done to her life. It killed the moose. So, on both sides, you have tremendous impact for the individuals."
Winn said large wildlife, like moose, would prefer an overpass to an underpass to cross the busy highway, because they want headroom for their antlers.
The western Massachusetts project is one of 16 nationwide awarded funding for wildlife crossing projects, out of more than 60 applications submitted.
