Work begins on biggest-ever wildlife crossing

Work has begun and the crossing will look like this! It's hoped the crossing will save lots of animals lives

Work has started on the world's biggest-ever wildlife crossing!

Placed in South California, the idea is to build a bridge over a very busy road which will create a safe passage for animals to move across their habitat.

It comes after a 20-year study by the United States National Park Service found that roads have increasingly been blocking and heavily disrupting migration routes for wildlife.

The California project is unusual because it's going to be built OVER the highway rather than as a tunnel.

The crossing will cover 10 lanes of Highway 101

The bridge should be completed by 2025 and has been called ground-breaking by those in support of the project.

Wade Crowfoot, California secretary for natural resources said: "This project is truly incredible, we will look back decades from now and realize that this project galvanized a new era of conserving and reconnecting nature."

US Senator Alex Padilla said: "We can protect California's ecosystems without jeopardizing the transportation and other infrastructure development that we need for a growing population."

Animal crossings

It's hoped the wildlife crossing will help stop the extinction of mountain lions in the area

The increasing number of roads across the US has caused major problems for animals who need to migrate to different areas in order to mate, get shelter and find food supplies.

The climate crisis has also meant that some species have needed to migrate in order to find more suitable conditions as temperatures rise.

In California, for example, there are a lot more wildfires than there used to be and the roads mean wildlife populations have no routes of escape.

Mountain lions in the area have been at threat of extinction so it's also hoped that the crossing will help them repopulate.

Safe corridor

Wildfires in California have led to animals needing to travel more to find places to live

The number of wildlife crossings across the US has rapidly increased over the last four decades, with just a handful in the 1970s and 1980s to more than 1,000 today.

A lack of animal routes also brings major knock on effects for humans too, with two million crashes between cars, lorries and large animals each year across the United States.

It's hoped the plan will help preserve biodiversity across California by re-connecting a really important wildlife corridor.