Construction crews are making progress in the monumental task of building a 175-foot wide wildlife crossing spanning 10 lanes of the 101 Freeway at Agoura Hills in both directions, but weather delays have extended the completion date and costs are rising.
After breaking ground in April 2022, an overly optimistic time frame placed completion sometime later this year. But severe fall and winter rainstorms from late 2022 and earlier this year have hampered construction, pushing the completion to the end of 2025, said Beth Pratt, California regional executive director for the National Wildlife Federation, the group that spearheaded the project.
Also, Pratt estimated the total cost of the project, including studies, designs and permitting, at $92 million, slightly above the original estimated cost of $87 million announced at the April 2022 groundbreaking.
But the good news is fundraising efforts lead by the the Wallis Annenberg Foundation, which donated at least $25 million, the NWF and the #SaveLACougars campaign, plus public dollars, have reached $106 million, enough to provide a cushion in case costs rise again, Pratt said.
Some of the extra dollars will go toward funding the notable research from biologists with the National Park Service on Southern California’s mountain lions that roam the Santa Monica Mountains. A portion will be used to build a plant nursery near the crossing, she said.
“And we definitely want a contingency plan,” Pratt said on Wednesday.
The mountain lions or cougars are hemmed in by the 101, 5 and 405 freeways. These big cats are trapped, forced to procreate with cousins in a limited gene pool that produces diseased offspring. Scientists estimate that without a larger range in which to mate, the unique, LA urban lions could be extinct in less than 50 years.
The wildlife crossing connects two mountain lion roaming grounds, the Santa Monica Mountains and the Sierra Madre Range. In essence. it removes the large freeway barrier,…
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