The acre-long Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing is being built over the 101 Freeway, and they’ve reached a major milestone this past week. The next step of the project’s construction requires closure of half of the 101 Freeway. This is the first time the project has required freeway closures.
When will the 101 Freeway close?
Closures will only happen at night during the work week, from Monday through Friday. Closures start around 11:00 p.m. or midnight and will last for 5 hours. However, only one half of the freeway will be closed. More specifically, only one direction of the freeway will be completely closed each night. The opposite direction will remain open for traffic. So even though the flow of traffic will be more limited, cars can still take the 101 Freeway.
Currently, southbound lanes are closed from Chesebro Road to Liberty Canyon Road. These closures start at 11 p.m., and lanes usually reopen around 5 a.m.
To receive regular updates on all the upcoming closures and detours and construction progress, sign up for a weekly newsletter from the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans). Send an email to Michael Comeaux at Caltrans at michael.comeaux@dot.ca.gov or call (213) 897-9372. You can also follow their regular updates on Caltrans’ X account here.
What are the latest updates on the project?
So far, the walls and columns of the structure have required more than 6,100 tons of concrete and over 426 tons of bar reinforcing steel. Next month, construction crews will begin installing large-scale concrete beams for the horizontal supports. The plan remains to manufacture everything off-site and then install as much as possible late at night so as to avoid extensive freeway closures. It is expected to take approximately 30 to 45 days to complete the entire process of placing the concrete beams. In total, 82 concrete beams will be placed across all ten lanes of the 101 Freeway by the end of the project.
What is the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing?
The massive Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing will span 10 lanes of the freeway in Agoura Hills making it the largest of its kind in the world. It will also be designed to sustain native ecosystems while providing a safe passage for wildlife.
“This crossing will save the local mountain lion population from extinction, stand as a global model for urban wildlife conservation — and show us that a structure of this magnitude can be built in such a densely populated urban area,” said Beth Pratt, California Regional Executive Director for the National Wildlife Federation.
The National Wildlife Federation’s #SaveLACougars campaign raised a whopping $87 million in project funding and broke ground on April 22, 2022. This gargantuan undertaking will see almost an acre of safe passageway built for wildlife and is set to be completed in 2024.
The leader of the #SaveLACougars campaign, Beth Pratt released a statement saying, “We are very excited to celebrate this big milestone in the construction of the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing. With the placement of the horizontal supports, the structure is truly going to start looking like the bridge it will become. We know that closures of the freeway do have impacts on traffic and the community, and we apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Caltrans has a thorough plan for detours, and we trust their excellent team to manage this to minimize disruption. And these ‘closures for cougar’ are for a good cause—helping to save the area mountain lions from extinction and ensuring a future for all wildlife in the Santa Monica Mountains.”
Why did the project begin?
Building California’s first freeway for animals was a response to the plight of P-2, L.A.’s endangered celebrity mountain lion that somehow managed to cross the busiest freeways only to be marooned on a city island. It will act as a lifeline for the cougar facing extinction and reconnect a fragmented ecosystem, according to The National Wildlife Federation. By creating a bridge between the Los Angeles area lions and the Santa Monica Mountains lions, there’s more hope to save the species and with a lower risk of being hit by a speeding car.
To find out more visit the Save LA Cougars campaign website here.
Edited by Sarah Nash.
Featured image: National Wildlife Federation