If you're an animal, this is a roadway you'll want to avoid.
Interstate-280 between San Bruno and Cupertino has been named the deadliest stretch of highway in California for animals.
KCBS Radio's Kim Vestal notifies listeners daily about I-280 and then braves it herself, on her way home from work. "I have avoided more than my share, especially on 280 through the San Mateo area when it gets dark. I remember one night specifically a gigantic deer bolted out in front of me," Vestal said.
Fraser Shilling is the lead author of the UC Davis Road Ecology Center's study, he said that 90% of crashes involving wildlife resulting in property damage or injury are caused by deer.
Wildlife caused crashes have cost the state $2 billion dollars over the last five years, a combination of damage costs and the price of cleanup.
"What we need to do is fence the highway to stop wildlife from getting on to the interstate and that kind of action you can take in many parts of the states," Shilling told KCBS Radio. "In some parts of the state you would also want to create a wildlife crossing if there is nowhere nearby for the wildlife go through."
Alameda County is looking into potential sites for a wildlife bridge.
In Southern California, one of the largest wildlife crossings is expected to be built sometime next year, over Highway 101 northwest of Los Angeles, according to The Mercury News. "These findings illustrate the tip of the iceberg of ecological and economic impacts that wildlife-vehicle collisions cause for California," Shillings told the paper.
Shillings believes legislation needs to be developed to fence off the highways and create more wildlife crossings especially in "conflict hot spots."
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