As yet the only wildlife overpass in Yoho National Park, this overpass was opened in June of 2018. 60 metres wide, it is the largest of the overpasses in the Canadian Rockies and the longest animal overpass in the world. It is expected that, among others, bears, cougars, wolverine and a nearby herd of mountain goats will begin using the overpass shortly. Just west of the Alberta-BC border, the overpass is about 13.6 kilometres east of the town of Field, BC.
Further below are excerpts from a news article published after the opening of the overpass. Built by Belvedere Place Contracting Ltd., a Kelowna company, the overpass became the longest because of topographical restrictions at the site. Other animal overpasses in Banff National Park, to the east, were built with double-archways, an option not available here. As a result, this overpass was built with a single archway crossing four lanes of traffic.
One of the great biological successes in recent times, the wildlife crossings in Banff National Park have proven effective in not only reducing, and in some cases even eliminating, animal mortality along the Trans Canada Highway as it passes through the park, but helping to maintain genetic health. While everyone from scientists to citizens was skeptical of their efficacy when built, two decades of study have shown that the crossings have been used by over 200,000 animals, ranging from grizzlies, elk and moose to toads, beaver and garter snakes.
The program has proven so successful that biologists from around the world now come to Banff to study the wildlife protection system implemented here, taking the knowledge back to their homelands to be used in creating their own systems.
Building world’s largest crossing
Parks Canada is nearing completion of a $6.6-million animal crossing in Yoho National Park.
Trevor Nichols | Oct 16, 2018
A record-breaking feat of engineering has just been completed in British Columbia’s Yoho National Park, and the Kelowna company that built it says the project went up “without a hitch.”
The massive wildlife overpass spans multiple lanes of traffic across the Trans Canada Highway, and is now the longest animal overpass in the world.
Sean Holkestad is a project manager at Belvedere Place Contracting Ltd., the company that built the overpass, and he says the $6.5 million project will allow protected wildlife to safely make it from one side of the busy road to the other.
He explains the project was groundbreaking not just for its size, but also because of its decidedly ambitious design.
The highway through Banff and Yoho national parks is already dotted with animal overpasses, but they all bridge the road with two smaller arches, supported in the middle.
But tigh topographical restrictions around the new Yoho overpass meant a double arch wasn’t an option. Instead, Belvedere had to find a way to bridge the entire highway (four lanes of traffic, plus two merging lanes) under a single, yawning archway.
According to Holkestad, the massive structure is 33 metres wide at its base, with a 40-metre-wide archway stretching 60 metres over the highway.
The team from Belvedere spent the summer putting it into place, piece by piece, as they worked around the tourist-season traffic flocking to the park.
From Okanagan Edge