The crossing has been a success in aiding animals.
SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – The new wildlife crossing under Highway 17 was built to keep animals safe, and there is now proof that it is working.
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Right in the Santa Cruz Mountains surrounded by various parks and open space preserves that many animals in the region call home.
The crossing was put up to help keep these spaces connected and enable animals better access to resources and food.
Cameras installed at the crossing have confirmed the experts thought would happen when the crossing was created.
"We found prints all the way through, so we've had deer tracks and bobcat," said Laura Dannehl-Schickman with the Santa Cruz County Land Trust.
The Land Trust has posted a video of a bobcat crossing at the Laurel Curve just last month. The video was captured just an hour after the camera was turned on, according to the post.
"As climate change continues we're going to see animals being pushed up, not just down," she said. "So having these established thoroughfares for them keeps them safe, keeps us safe."
The majority of collisions that happen with wildlife happen at Laurel Curve, where the crossing was built.
Laurel Curve's success has officials considering putting up another one of these passes on Highway 101 near San Juan Bautista.
"Even mountain lions have been able to make it over 17, die at 101," she said. "So they make it that far south, just there are four lanes of the freeway."
65,000 cars travel down Highway 17 every day. Now animals are a bit safer than they were before.
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