Caltrans told to help people by saving deer

A new UC Davis study found that Caltrans could do more to stop deer and other animals from wandering onto parts of Interstate 280 and getting hit by cars, but the transportation agency is “paralyzed in the ‘don’t know what to do’ state,” the study’s author said.

Caltrans should build deer-proof fences, wildlife tunnels and overpasses accessible to animals along a stretch of I-280 that is notorious for deer crossings that cause collisions of car and beast and crashes by drivers swerving to avoid deer.

Researchers at the UC Davis Road Ecology Center made these recommendations to Caltrans after spending 30 months analyzing roadkill, accident reports and wildlife habits along

I-280 from San Bruno to Menlo Park to determine how and why so many cars strike deer and other wild animals.

“There were places that there were more crashes and I think it is because at those places there was more accessibility” to the freeway, said study author Fraser Shilling, director of the ecology center. “The recommendation would be that you fence off the highway from the habitat and provide a place for the animals to cross.”

There are roughly a dozen underpasses and bridges that animals can use to cross the busy freeway, Shilling said. Some were installed for wildlife but some, like those that are actually underpasses for roads or human walking trails, are not always a good fit for wild animals.

Saving humans, too

Stopping deer from wandering onto the freeway is not just about saving wildlife from becoming roadkill, Shilling said. Collisions between cars and deer can total a car and injure or even kill its occupants.

In 2011, Daniel Strickland, a professor at Santa Clara University, died after his car hit a deer on I-280 and was rearended by another car.

“Instead of thinking of collisions with animals as an environment problem, another frame to think of it is, because people have died and been injured, it is a driver-safety issue,” Shilling said.

But Caltrans still considers the issue a low-priority environmental issue, Shilling said.

“Caltrans really hasn’t figured out how to deal with this issue systematically,” Shilling said. “They’re sort of paralyzed in the ‘don’t know what to do’ state.”

Mark Dinger, a Caltrans spokesman, said “any assertion that Caltrans is ‘paralyzed’ … is simply just not true.”

Dinger pointed to a 2013 project on Highway 101 in San Luis Obispo where Caltrans installed numerous wildlife undercrossings, fencing and electric maps to keep animals away from the freeway.

Bob Haus, another Caltrans spokesman, said the agency is reviewing Shilling’s report to see what changes might be appropriate along I-280.

“The whole point of the study was to put more tools in our toolbox. What are all the steps we can do to cut down on collisions with deer and wildlife?” Haus said. “What are our options, what sort of techniques can apply to this situation that can make things safer for everyone? We’re not looking at doing any specific project, but just overall looking at what sort of methods are effective and appropriate for a particular area.”

Some 1,000 deer are struck by cars on highways and freeways in California each year and the average collision with a deer is estimated to cost a driver $6,600, Shilling said.

“So every year we have $6 million of collision costs on average; that’s the crude economic calculation, and that’s $6 million in avoidable costs,” Shilling said.

In 2013 alone, nine deer were killed by cars on I-280 between Millbrae and Foothill Expressway, said Officer Art Montiel, a California Highway Patrol spokesman. No humans were injured in any of the collisions.

Shilling’s study found that some deer do avoid traffic on the freeway.

“We saw some family groups go through the undercrossing,” Shilling said. “You’ll see an adult deer going through a passage, and you keep watching and eventually you’ll see it with a young fawn going through the same passage.”

But other deer have been slower to adapt.

“These animals are not

“Because people have died and been injured, it is a driver-safety issue.” Fraser Shilling, author of UC Davis study

choosing for whatever reason to go through these safe passages and some will also go right over the freeway, so what that tells you is that they’re not adapted,” Shilling said. “Thirty years is a not a lot of time for the animals to adapt to something.”

Safer crossings

In places where animals are not getting struck by cars, there are often underpasses or tunnels where they can cross under or over the freeway while avoiding humans or predators.

“One of the things that can make these more feasible for animals is to have no human activity,” Shilling said. “The other is vegetation. If it is wide and there’s no cover, then it is going to seem more exposed. Anything else and they will think they’re going to get preyed on if it is open.” In some cases, tall fences along the freeway can guide animals to safe crossings, but Caltrans could install more.

Fully upgrading I-280 with new fences and tunnels would cost about $4 million, Shilling said.