Wildlife seeking to cross one of Wyoming’s most dangerous highways is about to get some help.
The Wyoming Game and Fish Commission approved $1.25 million dollars to build two wildlife underpasses on Highway 189.
“It has some of the highest wildlife vehicle collisions in the state. There’s an average of 117 collisions per year,” Sara DiRienzo, spokesperson for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department (WGFD), told Wyoming Public Media. “There are a lot of deer who use this area, not only to get to their winter range, but during the winter they’re trying to cross the highway multiple times a day.”
Commissioners pinpointed a 28-mile stretch of the highway because it is in line with the proposed Wyoming Range Migration Corridor.
WGFD estimates the project will reduce vehicle-wildlife collisions by 90 percent. The goal is to finish construction by 2022.
(Photo source: Wyoming Department of Transportation)