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| I-40 as it cuts through Tijeras Canyon in New Mexico |
The problem had been there for years. Interstate 40, with three traffic lanes in each direction, cuts through Tijeras Canyon just east of Albuquerque, N.M. State Route 333, formerly the famous Route 66, runs along beside it. Tijeras Canyon is a five-mile-long gap between the Sandia Mountains and the Sandia Wilderness to the north and the Manzanita Mountains and the Cibola National Forest to the south. Both are protected areas, so wildlife is plentiful in the region.
The area’s topography funnels mule deer and other wildlife into the canyon, where they face all those highway lanes, busy with traffic, before they can get to the other side.
Vehicles in the canyon were striking about 25 large game animals, including mule deer and black bear, each year, says Kurt Menke of the Tijeras Canyon Safe Passage Coalition.
That’s just a rough estimate, notes Mark L. Watson, terrestrial habitat specialist with the
N.M. Department of Game and Fish. “We don't really have a good sense of how many large game animals were hit, in part due to the heavy truck traffic on I-40 that essentially pulverizes carcasses, and big semis don't call in collisions with wildlife since little damage is done.”
While drivers of the big rigs can shrug off an animal collision, for drivers of passenger cars, a collision with a mule deer or other large animal at highway speeds is at best an expensive experience, leading only to car repairs, and at worst, a tragic one.
In 2003, the New Mexico legislature took action, passing a memorial, or measure that makes a request, asking the state transportation department to work with the state wildlife department to reduce collisions between vehicles and wildlife. At a meeting among state agencies, conservation organizations, federal agencies and academics that followed the memorial, Tijeras Canyon was identified as one of the top four hot spots for vehicle wildlife collisions, says Menke.
“A bunch of us wanted to do something,” says Menke, “So we formed this coalition.”
What happened next was a striking piece of luck.
Check back to tomorrow to find out the lucky break that was vital to the project's success.
Photo: courtesy of the Tijeras Canyon Safe Passage Coalition
Photo: courtesy of the Tijeras Canyon Safe Passage Coalition
