MARINETTE COUNTY, WI (WTAQ) – A stretch of Highway 141 is utilizing a corridor to keep both motorists and wildlife safe.
The underpass in Marinette County is designed to help motorists avoid colliding with deer.
The Department of Transportation had an idea before a new highway was built around Coleman and Pound 13 years ago.
“It was a unique area,” says Mike Helmrick, Wisconsin Department of Transportation Environmental Coordinator. “We don’t do a lot of these and it kind of has to be the right scenario.”
The wildlife corridor utilizes double-high eight-foot fences to keep wildlife off the road and funnel deer along a creek and under the highway.
DNR Area Wildlife Supervisor John Huff says the long overpass design gives wildlife enough room to roam.
“It’s got plenty of cover underneath the bridge and a big wide place so animals wouldn’t feel constricted,” he says.
And officials are turning to the proof in-person, rather than on paper, to validate the success of the design.
“You can look and you can see defined deer trails going underneath the bridge, so you know they’re using it,” says Helmrick.
It keeps animals safe and motorists away from possibly expensive and dangerous accidents.
“Hitting a deer is going to be several hundred, to several thousand dollars worth of expense to people who do that,” says Huff. “So anything that you can do to kind of reduce that possibility is a good thing.”
There are around 20,000 vehicle-deer collisions every year, according to the DNR.
