California's Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing
The world's largest wildlife corridor.
The Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing is a bridge spanning U.S. Highway 101 (the Ventura Freeway) currently under construction in Agoura Hills, California. It will be the largest wildlife corridor in the world, connecting the Simi Hills and the Santa Monica Mountains over a 10-lane freeway. It will also span a section of Agoura Road.
The Ventura Freeway is a heavily travelled commuter route connecting Los Angeles and Ventura Counties with about 300,000 cars a day. The crossing site is about 35 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles.
The length of the bridge is about 210 feet. The width is about 174 feet, or enough to accommodate about five to six lanes in each direction if the bridge were designed to carry traffic.
Studies in the Los Angeles area have shown that roads and development are proving deadly for animals trying to cross. They also create “islands of habitat” that can genetically isolate all wildlife—from bobcats to birds to lizards. The species most immediately at risk is the mountain lion. Research has identified the 101 Freeway as the most significant barrier to the ecological health of the region.
This will be the first bridge on the California highway system designed specifically for fostering wildlife connectivity. The crossing will support wildlife and provide the habitat, shelter, food and water that individual species need to thrive. To achieve this, the top of the structure will be covered in nearly one acre of native vegetation.
The crossing is named for Wallis Annenberg, chairman, president, and CEO of the Annenberg Foundation, which provided a $25 million grant for the project. The total $90 million cost will be covered by about 60% in private donations, with the rest coming from public funds set aside for conservation purposes.
There’s a reason I wanted to support this crossing and issue this challenge: We need to move beyond mere conservation, toward a kind of environmental rejuvenation. Wildlife crossings are powerfully effective at doing just that — restoring ecosystems that have been fractured and disrupted. It's a way of saying, there are solutions to our deepest ecological challenges, and this is the kind of fresh new thinking that will get us there.
A groundbreaking ceremony was held on Earth Day in April 2022 with California Governor Gavin Newsom, Wallis Annenberg, wildlife biologists and members of the public along with local, state and federal legislators in attendance.
The bridge is expected to be completed in early 2026.
For more information, including live webcams of the construction, visit 101wildlifecrossing.org.
Update - 10/3/2024: Last week I drove under the wildlife crossing. I posted a video of it below. It is a pretty bad video because I was driving. I removed the sound because I didn’t think you wanted to listen to the ads playing on the radio. Also, I apologize for my dirty car window.