Wood, metal, concrete and mesh have transformed a 10-kilometre stretch of the open road in southern Alberta into a protective passageway for the motoring public.
Strategically placed along a scenic foothills route to prevent the kind of wildlife encounter drivers would sooner avoid, all those posts, fences and cattleguards along Highway 3 are hard to ignore.
Less obvious, however, is what the system does to help critters of multiple types and sizes safely meet their own cross-terrain needs.
A bridge that’s part of the $11-million Rock Creek project traverses a wildlife underpass that barely pings a driver’s consciousness. But that gentle rise and fall covers a critical piece of infrastructure that’s far more sophisticated than most motorists realize.
The entire project, in fact, is a practical meeting of research, applied science and engineering that will, if all goes well, pay for itself in 15 years, the province forecasts.