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Forested Overpasses Allow Animals to Cross Safely Over Highways

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Re: Forested Overpasses Allow Animals to Cross Safely Over Highways

#31

Post by andreasklinger »

mason240 wrote: post #27

What a colossal waste of resources.

i wonder on a grand scheme of things if this is really a waste/spend of resources that actually matters.

if people in 200 years from now look at our century's (or even generation) expenses - would they even see those kind of expenses anywhere?

on the flip side:

balance in nature is something we have still a very hard time recreating. reversing extinction is close to impossible. and imbalance of nature is potentially one of the biggest cost drivers for future generations.

i see this as cheap R&D for future investments in the balance of nature 100 years from now.

Re: Forested Overpasses Allow Animals to Cross Safely Over Highways

#32

Post by Retric »

jamespitts wrote: post #10

People in cities need something similar. It would be hugely beneficial to have a bustling business district lined up on the left and right side of urban freeway crossings.

Baltimore has an interesting network of outdoor walkways above street level connecting the inner harbor, convention center, and a few nearby buildings. I have long thought a city could do this for a much larger part of downtown at reasonable expense.

Crystal city VA on the other hand has an underground mall covering well over a mile including a subway stop. The upside is weather becomes irrelevant, but the downside it's a winding path making the surface faster and presumably it costs much more to build and maintain.

Re: Forested Overpasses Allow Animals to Cross Safely Over Highways

#34

Post by jamespitts »

Retric wrote: post #32
jamespitts wrote: post #10

People in cities need something similar. It would be hugely beneficial to have a bustling business district lined up on the left and right side of urban freeway crossings.

Baltimore has an interesting network of outdoor walkways above street level connecting the inner harbor, convention center, and a few nearby buildings. I have long thought a city could do this for a much larger part of downtown at reasonable expense. Crystal city VA on the other hand has an underground mall covering well over a mile including a subway stop. The upside is weather becomes irrelevant, but the downside i…

I'll have to check those out when I go to the area in the future.

In SF there are a few spots where active use occurs underneath freeways. Also, in Taipei I saw a huge marketplace for jade and for flowers underneath freeways.

Freeways cause so many ill social and economic effects on neighborhoods, billions are wasted every year in the big cities on dead space. There should be a huge investment toward restoring the urban fabric and bringing out the full value of neighborhoods around these structures.

Re: Forested Overpasses Allow Animals to Cross Safely Over Highways

#35

Post by dropit_sphere »

jamespitts wrote: post #10

People in cities need something similar. It would be hugely beneficial to have a bustling business district lined up on the left and right side of urban freeway crossings.

Something like this (or rather, the reverse) was Walt Disney's plan for the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow he envisioned: https://youtu.be/UEm-09B0px8?t=15m29s

Re: Forested Overpasses Allow Animals to Cross Safely Over Highways

#36

Post by tobtoh »

In Australia, we have a similar bridge but on a much simpler scale - a rope bridge that spans the Hume highway (for animals that need a continuous bridge). For our native animals that glide (but can't fly), poles spaced 30m or so accomplish the same goal.

http://theconversation.com/mysterious-poles-make-road-crossi...

Re: Forested Overpasses Allow Animals to Cross Safely Over Highways

#37

Post by sologoub »

These should be mandatory for any new road construction through existing habitats.

Even driving on California's central coast (pretty populated area), you see a lot of roadkill like deer, foxes, bobcats, etc. Very sad and I'm sure not helpful to recovery of some of the species.

Re: Forested Overpasses Allow Animals to Cross Safely Over Highways

#40

Post by protomyth »

Abraln wrote: post #19
jlg23 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this is more a question of planting trees with roots that don't go too deep. But, even if not - rebuilding them every 15 years might be cheaper than sound engineering for this problem space. After all, they don't have to handle 40 ton trucks or 50 cars at a time.

Agreed, but if you REALLY wanted to be sure, you could always put a large sheet of aluminum just above the bottom layer.

I thought there were problems with aluminum and plants.
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