Why Did the Elk (or Bear or Deer or Lynx) Cross the Road?

Landscape Architects Compete to Create Highway Overpasses for Wildlife That Allow for Safer, Free Roaming Across Habitats.

By STEPHANIE SIMON
WSJ

Landscape architect Robert Rock takes pride in talking to his clients to understand just how they'll be using the green spaces he designs. In his most recent assignment, however, he hit a roadblock.

"You can't ask elk what they'd like for dinner," Mr. Rock said ruefully.

Nor can you ask them what would induce them to nibble that dinner while strolling across a lushly planted footbridge spanning a six-lane highway.

Getting elk to cross highways safely—and encouraging lynx, bear, deer and bighorn sheep to follow suit—was the key challenge in an unusual global contest that concluded this month.

The ARC International Wildlife Crossing Infrastructure Design Competition asked engineers, ecologists and landscape architects to come up with an overpass bridge for pedestrians of the furry sort. The goal: to encourage wildlife to roam freely across their habitat—even when that habitat is bisected by a highway.

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