End Vehicle-Wildlife Collisions on I-280 and Bay Area Freeways
End Vehicle-Wildlife Collisions on I-280 and Bay Area Freeways
The Issue
In November 2023 a female mountain lion named Luna was hit by a car and died on the 280 freeway in Burlingame, orphaning her two young female cubs. They were rescued by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and cared for at the Oakland Zoo, where they were named Maple and Willow. Without the survival skills passed down from their mother they couldn't be released into the wild and will spend the rest of their days in captivity.
This is tragic for animals like Luna and her cubs - a large mammal is killed along 280 every three days, and at least twenty mountain lions have died on 280 since 2015. But it's also tragic for people. The 280 freeway is one of the two deadliest freeways in California for wildlife, but people also pay a steep price. Each year vehicle-wildlife collisions on 280 cause over $5 million in damage and medical expenses, and on average a person dies in a wildlife-related collision every other year.
Caltrans has known about this danger for over a decade, yet little action has been taken. The Road Ecology Center at UC Davis publishes an annual report on statewide roadkill statistics that has ranked 280 #1 or #2 in the state in terms of total cost and animal mortality every year since 2009. Caltrans itself funded a study in 2013 that identified the collision hot spots along 280 and the corrective actions needed. The cost-effective solutions for 280 in the report such as closing gaps in existing fencing would pay for themselves in avoided damage and injury costs in less than five years.
It is time for Caltrans to fix this problem once and for all. The State of California is investing hundreds of millions of dollars building wildlife crossings around the state, but to date Caltrans has failed to invest in the freeway that causes the greatest harm to people and wildlife - the 31 miles of 280 in San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties. Please join me in asking Caltrans Region 4 leadership and local Peninsula politicians to end the human and wildlife collisions on 280 once and for all.
Caltrans District 4 can be contacted here:
- Phone: (510) 286-4444
- Email: Caltrans.d4@dot.ca.gov
Video of Maple, Willow and Luna a week before the accident on 280
2,346
The Issue
In November 2023 a female mountain lion named Luna was hit by a car and died on the 280 freeway in Burlingame, orphaning her two young female cubs. They were rescued by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and cared for at the Oakland Zoo, where they were named Maple and Willow. Without the survival skills passed down from their mother they couldn't be released into the wild and will spend the rest of their days in captivity.
This is tragic for animals like Luna and her cubs - a large mammal is killed along 280 every three days, and at least twenty mountain lions have died on 280 since 2015. But it's also tragic for people. The 280 freeway is one of the two deadliest freeways in California for wildlife, but people also pay a steep price. Each year vehicle-wildlife collisions on 280 cause over $5 million in damage and medical expenses, and on average a person dies in a wildlife-related collision every other year.
Caltrans has known about this danger for over a decade, yet little action has been taken. The Road Ecology Center at UC Davis publishes an annual report on statewide roadkill statistics that has ranked 280 #1 or #2 in the state in terms of total cost and animal mortality every year since 2009. Caltrans itself funded a study in 2013 that identified the collision hot spots along 280 and the corrective actions needed. The cost-effective solutions for 280 in the report such as closing gaps in existing fencing would pay for themselves in avoided damage and injury costs in less than five years.
It is time for Caltrans to fix this problem once and for all. The State of California is investing hundreds of millions of dollars building wildlife crossings around the state, but to date Caltrans has failed to invest in the freeway that causes the greatest harm to people and wildlife - the 31 miles of 280 in San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties. Please join me in asking Caltrans Region 4 leadership and local Peninsula politicians to end the human and wildlife collisions on 280 once and for all.
Caltrans District 4 can be contacted here:
- Phone: (510) 286-4444
- Email: Caltrans.d4@dot.ca.gov
Video of Maple, Willow and Luna a week before the accident on 280
2,346
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Petition created on November 4, 2024