Nevada to spend $14 million to put deer crossings across Interstate 80

CARSON CITY — What separates man from beast has long been debated.

But the question has been answered in Nevada, where $14 million will be spent on deer crossings to keep the animals out of the grilles of travelers on Interstate 80 in the Pequop Mountains in Elko County.

The state Transportation Board this month approved the low bid for the project, despite concerns about whether it was the best use of scarce funds. Some board members were also concerned that the low bid came in nearly $5 million over the engineer's estimate of just over $9 million.

There will be two bridges over the freeway of about 200 feet in length along with fencing to direct the animals to the crossings. The project is expected to be finished by spring 2017.

Gov. Brian Sandoval, chairman of the board, questioned whether the money could be better spent on other safety issues across Nevada, particularly in the Las Vegas area where pedestrian deaths have been occurring with alarming frequency.

"For $14 million you can build quite a bit," he said. "It's a lot of money.

"I get that this is an important project, but we have limited money and a lot of needs," Sandoval said.

Transportation Director Rudy Malfabon told the board that federal funds could be lost if the contract was not approved; the design costs, for example, would have to be returned to the feds.

Sandoval voted for the project, acknowledging that it can be justified based on motorist safety. But he asked that as future projects are considered, the agency looks first at pedestrian safety issues.

Such crossings are not unusual in Nevada or around the world.

The Nevada Transportation Department has built more than a half-dozen wildlife crossings to help reduce potential injuries and even deaths that can come from vehicle-animal collisions.

The Transportation Department and the Nevada Wildlife Department have jointly installed five safety crossings on U.S. Highway 93 north of Wells. The two overpasses and three underpasses are designed to reduce the chance of vehicle-animal collisions caused as deer and other large animals migrate across U.S. 93. Deer fencing is installed on both sides of the crossings to help direct animals to cross at the designated overpasses and underpasses.

There is also an existing safety crossing on I-80 at Silver Zone Pass between Oasis and West Wendover.

Research conducted by the University of Nevada, Reno shows that by using the safety crossings, more than 26,000 mule deer have been kept off the road and away from potential collisions with vehicles.

John Terry, the agency's assistant director of engineering, said the Pequop summit area has one of the highest deer migration concentrations in the state.

"There are both documented animal hits that have caused injuries and/or fatalities, but there are also a lot of run off the roads that are suspiciously in areas where we know there are a lot of animal crossings," he said.

"It's very hard to evaluate safety impacts of animals on Interstate 80 versus pedestrian safety impacts and what we can do to address those in the urban areas, and I can tell you we are looking at both," Terry said. "But we do feel that this is not just an animal crossing but definitely a safety issue."

This project is a high safety priority for the agency. Over the past few years, the Transportation Department has received formal reports of more than 200 wildlife-vehicle collisions that have occurred in the Pequop Mountain Range. One fatality, 12 human injuries, two vehicle rollovers and multiple incidents of property damage have resulted from these collisions.

The area is the most mountainous in which the agency has ever installed this type of crossing. The interstate crosses rocky and steep topography, with four traffic lanes.

The agency is also looking at wildlife crossings in Southern Nevada.

There are four wildlife undercrossings and one overcrossing being installed as part the $235 million, 12.5-mile-long second phase of Interstate 11 in Boulder City, primarily for bighorn sheep. The project, which extends from Railroad Pass to the Hoover Dam Bypass Bridge, is scheduled to be complete in 2018.

— Contact Sean Whaley at swhaley@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3900. Find him on Twitter: @seanw801