About an hour west of Calgary is the gateway to Banff National Park. The route to and through the park is eighty-three kilometers along the Trans-Canada Highway - a fast and furious road carrying millions of trucks, cars, motorbikes and cyclists each year; tourists and day-trippers, workers and holiday-makers - and a startling array of RV's, campers and fifth-wheelers!
Collisions between vehicles and wildlife can be fatal, on either side of the equation, but obviously the animals come out far worse than the metal beasts that mow them down.
By about 2014, there were six completed overpasses in place.
These are 50m wide "bridges" over the highway and have cost millions of dollars to build. They are finished like the surrounding natural habitat with earth, plants and trees.
It can take years for large wildlife to feel safe to utilise these crossings, but motion-detecting cameras prove they do work. One issue is that the animal has to walk up the crossing area, and he cannot see what is on the other side and so, of course, is naturally very wary. Modifications may be made in future years to try and address this.
There will also be 39 underpasses, many of which are already put to extensive use. Over 200,000 crossings have been recorded involving bears, wolves, elk and cougars.
A motion-detector camera took footage of a gorgeous lynx using an overpass. A rare sighting indeed.
Years ago, when we were at the Park Gate paying our annual park pass fee, we were given a CD to play in the car. It was aimed at the kids, telling the story from the animals' point of view - simply, for drivers to just slow down - and using different silly voices for the different species. My girls were about 8 and 10 at the time and enjoyed listening to the stories.
We must have played that flipping CD about 10 times and even now, I could recite back to you the bear's comments!
But the gift of the CD has made us all so much aware of the vast efforts (and expense) that Parks Canada, highway agencies and environmentalists have made to mitigate the deaths of wildlife along this increasingly busy corridor through one of the most beautiful drives in the world.
