Columbia River Revelstoke MLA Doug Clovechok said a wildlife overpass along Highway 93, south of Radium Hot Springs, is still in the works.
The planned piece of infrastructure comes after years of collisions between highway drivers and local wildlife.
“It’s a traditional area for the bighorn sheep, and they love the road salt. Measure have been put in to place some salt licks out, but they love the road salt,” said Clovechok. “Over time, there have been deaths of these sheep and that was the intent of the whole community program.”
Mitigation efforts have been put in place in the meantime, while B.C.’s Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructures works to finish the design phase of the future overpass.
“They reduced the speed to 70 kilometres per hour going into Radium, going into a 60 zone and then down to 50,” said Clovechok. “It’s been a great success with the sheep monitoring system in place watching the sheep. They have flashing lights and people are slowing down for that.”
Clovechok said digital messaging signs have also been used to help out.
Work on the overpass and fencing may move ahead in the near future, but no set date has been announced just yet.
“The design of the overpass is nearing 100 per cent completion, and the team is working very hard to get it shelf ready for when the funds are confirmed,” said Clovechok. “To date, the ministry has invested over $200,000 on just the monitoring system.”
