PARK CITY, Utah — A Utah group is rallying for a wildlife crossing to be built in Park City.
Tom Farkas with "Save People Save Wildlife" says there is a tragic number of vehicle wildlife collisions on State Route 224 near the Farm Trail area.
“Our mission is to reduce vehicle wildlife collisions and provide safe passage for wildlife,” said Farkas, “[Collisions] happen all the time. I think a moose, a deer and an elk… three or four of them within the last six weeks.”
He said reducing the number of collisions in the area would also be economically beneficial.
“Over the 10-year period between 2010 and 2020, there were 247 vehicle wildlife collisions here on SR-224 at an estimated cost of $7.5 million based on UDOT’S cost-crash criteria. So $7.5 million could pay for a crossing,” said Farkas.
The group presented 1,000 letters of community support from locals and businesses at a recent Park City Council meeting to push for a wildlife passage, adding to the approximately 50 bridges and underpasses the state has built in the past decade.
“They’ve been very successful in cutting down on some of the some of the wildlife collisions that we see that the number of crashes from before they were put in,” UDOT spokesman John Gleason said.
UDOT received a federal grant of nearly $6 million to build three wildlife underpasses along I-80 in Kanab.
Gleason said they’re looking to build more, but where to put them is a tricky selection process.
“We have to take it from a statewide perspective and look at where the biggest problems are occurring and in those areas that we can make a difference,” said Gleason. “Even in the Summit County area, Echo Junction, there, where 84 and I-80 intersect — that's a real hot spot, these vehicle wildlife collisions. And that's that's an area that we're pursuing a federal grant.”
Summit County transportation planning director Carl Miller said are lots of factors to think about that they are looking into when it comes to the spot along Route 224.
“How does it impact travel patterns? Traffic? How does it look to the community? If it's an overpass, does it block view sheds that people value and appreciate?” said Miller. “So we're really not ready to say we have a specific solution to it.”
For Farkas, whose group has raised nearly $260,000 towards the cause, he said timing is of the essence and they will continue to push for the passage.
“It seems to me it's incumbent upon the city, the county and the state to do something to reduce the cost and the trauma that these people go through when they have an accident with one of these large animals,” said Farkas.
