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| One of the project's electro-mats. |
Of all the areas in New Mexico where vehicle collisions with wildlife were a problem, Tijeras Canyon was the perfect place to try to do something, because a $25 million highway renovation project was already scheduled.
The newly-formed Tijeras Canyon Safe Passage Coalition showed up at a Department of Transportation meeting about the construction project with over 60 people and explained their concerns, says Minke. DOT officials were receptive, and funded a local environmental firm to analyze the situation and come up with a plan.
“The project implementation itself is a success story that would not have been possible without an active effort by wildlife advocates that formed the Tijeras Canyon Safe Passage Coalition (TCSPC), and a proactive NMDOT Environmental Bureau project lead (Jeff Fredine),” says Mark L. Watson, terrestrial habitat specialist with the N.M. Department of Game and Fish (NMDGF). “Between the TCSPC, NMDOT Environmental Bureau lead, and NMDGF, we were able to triangulate off of each other to get the project implemented.”
In another piece of good luck, a parcel of land near the most dangerous stretch of highway in the canyon, known as Deadman’s Curve, was put on the market. The luck was that the City of Albuquerque bought it for open space, so it could be for used as an overland wildlife passage along the interstate, instead being developed.
The plan the environmental firm came up with was a state-of-the-art combination of techniques and technologies that had never been used in New Mexico before, and had only been used a few times elsewhere in the United States.
The two highways were enclosed with a 7-foot-high electric fence that delivered a 6,000- to 7,000-volt, 4-milliamp shock for 3/10,000th of a second. It was meant to give a mild shock to animals. Humans touching the fence would be stung, but not seriously harmed.
The fencing routes animals towards three highway underpasses that were cleared of brush to allow them passage. One underpass was modified to make its entrance easier for animals to navigate. The fences also routed the animals to an overland passage at Deadman’s Curve, which was an animal crossing hot spot. This stretch of highway was outfitted with motion-detectors that trigger flashing lights that warn motorists of animals in the road.
Highway entrance and exit ramps, as well as crossroads, are protected by four-foot-wide electric mats that deliver a jolt to deter animals from crossing. People wearing shoes and bicyclists can cross the mats without feeling anything.
Twelve escape ramps were constructed to offer an escape to any animals that breech the protections and become trapped inside the highway fencing.
And the price was right. The project’s cost, approximately $750,000, was easily rolled into the cost of the larger $25 million highway renovation project.
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| One of the project's wildlife escape ramps. |
“This is one of the few environmental projects I’ve been part of where there wasn’t an opponent. Nobody was against it,” says Menke of the Safe Passage Coalition. “Nobody wants to hit a deer on their way to work.” The project seemed charmed. It received not only local media coverage, but national coverage as well, praising it as a vision of the future for avoiding collisions between vehicles and wildlife.
Had New Mexico created the perfect solution? Only time would tell.
Come back tomorrow for the results of this ambitious highway mitigation project.
Photos: Courtesy of the Tijeras Canyon Safe Passage Coalition
