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Representatives from Caltrans and Land Trust of Santa Cruz County held a public hearing at the Aromas Grange Hall on Jan. 29 to present a proposal to construct an overcrossing structure included in the Caltrans San Benito Wildlife Crossing Project.
According to Caltrans representatives at the meeting, the crossing is planned as a multi-year project. Construction is scheduled to run from winter 2030 through winter 2033. Only early-phase funding has been secured so far.
All currently confirmed funding, according to Caltrans, comes from a single Wildlife Conservation Board grant totaling $5.6 million, as part of the Caltrans Wildlife Crossing Pilot Program, which was authorized under the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law providing $350 million for wildlife crossing projects nationwide.
Caltrans has not yet published a final construction-cost estimate, of which 60% will go toward designing the project.
Project partners include Land Trust of Santa Cruz County, Wildlife Conservation Network, Pathways for Wildlife, California Department of Fish & Wildlife and Peninsula Open Space Trust.
The long road to completion
Speakers gave an overview of the project’s scope, timeline and funding. The stated purpose of the project, according to the panel of speakers, is to improve wildlife connectivity between San Benito and Santa Cruz counties by creating a wildlife crossing of Hwy 101 near Rocks Road which, in addition to providing safe passage for wildlife, would reduce collisions and improve driver safety.
Once completed in 2033, the goal is to connect thousands of acres of land north of Hwy 101 to 2,600 continuous acres south of the highway that is owned by the Land Trust, a nonprofit land conservation organization.
Morgan Robinson, the environmental program manager for biology and environmental engineering at Caltrans District 5, said that the wildlife crossing was planned to increase breeding opportunities and facilitate seasonal movements for food or water. She said the highway is a barrier to wildlife movement that often leads to collisions and driver safety issues.
“In the northwest is the Santa Cruz Mountains, and to the southwest is the Gabilan Range; these are both large blocks of habitat in our area,” she said, adding that because of increased “urban inflow” in Santa Cruz County, farmlands in San Benito County, and the ocean, the result is an “island effect” that prevents wildlife movement between counties.
“Connecting habitat is essential for gene flow to community populations, and this is important to avoid effects of inbreeding, and to sustain healthy populations,” she said. “Connecting habitat is also important because it allows animals to move in the face of natural disasters, wildfires, and changing climate. These populations are becoming more and more isolated by roads and development and it’s becoming difficult for wildlife to move between these populations.”
Robinson added that the corridor through the eucalyptus grove near Rocks Road, where an estimated 70,000 vehicles pass every day, is the narrowest point where Hwy 101 bisects the two counties, causing the area to be known as the “hotspot for animal-vehicle collisions” which includes large animals such as deer and mountain lions, and countless smaller animals.
She compared the proposed wildlife crossing to a similar project along Highway 17 at Laurel Curve which has allowed animals to safely cross over the highway and reduced animal vehicle collision rates by about 90%.
Within the first 15 months of completion, she said, almost 1,000 animals, including gray foxes, bobcats, deer, and mountain lions used the crossings. Since completion there have been no deer fatalities.
Both the Hwy 17 and San Benito Wildlife Crossing projects are part of a larger initiative launched by the governor’s office in 2024 called California Wildlife Reconnected.
Enrique Huerta, a Caltrans senior environmental specialist, went over the long California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) process required before construction can begin. Huerta said the CEQA requirements will take “multiple years to prepare and then get approved.” However, he said, a new streamlined process, which he referred to as the “cutting the green tape program,” managed by California Department of Fish and Wildlife, will be used to secure environmental permits more quickly.
Traffic control
Michael Rasmussen, lead design engineer on the project, said the main constraints as the project moves forward will be traffic control and trying to figure out ways to divert traffic around construction which will take place mainly at night.
“The bridge width is 191 feet, and the length is 355 feet, and the total overcrossing length with the fill on both sides will be roughly 435 feet,” he said, adding there will be a 13-foot sound wall and berms on the sides of the bridge designed to encourage animals to use the crossing. Still to be determined are the degrees of the grades on either side of the bridge, as well as vegetation removal, he said.
Rasmussen added that plans for crossover detours that would take traffic completely off of Hwy 101 and go around the project site have not been finalized.
“We haven’t found a great solution for it, so a vehicle crossover will be required,” he said. “One lane of traffic for each direction will always be open.”
State Senator John Laird, who has been directly engaged in the project, told BenitoLink by email, “This proposed wildlife crossing along U.S. 101 in San Benito County is a thoughtful and necessary investment. For years, this stretch of highway has limited wildlife movement and posed real safety concerns for drivers. Improving connectivity between the Santa Cruz Mountains and the Gabilan Range would address both of those challenges in a meaningful way.”
Laird, who has been conducting on-site visits and coordinating with Caltrans District 5 and the Land Trust of Santa Cruz County on the project, in addition to conducting ongoing legislative support for wildlife connectivity funding, continued: “Governor Newsom has proposed an additional $21 million from Prop. 4 for the Habitat Connectivity and Wildlife Crossing Program, and we will be carefully reviewing these funding options as part of the budget process. Projects like this show that California can advance transportation safety while responsibly stewarding our natural resources.”
Supervisor Kollin Kosmicki, whose District 2 includes the project, declined comment.
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