It weighs as much as 14 African elephants and towers over ten lanes of incessant traffic. What is it? It's the first girder of the world's largest ecobridge, a titanic work taking shape above Highway 101 in California.
A $92 million project that is more than just an overpass: it is our admission of guilt and, at the same time, an attempt to repair the damage inflicted on wildlife. Yes sir: the new Wallis Annenberg Ecobridge it is the materialization of a change of perspective, and now I'll tell you why.
An unnatural barrier in the heart of nature
When it was built, Highway 101 wasn't just a ribbon of asphalt to connect communities. It was, without anyone thinking about it too much, a “formidable and virtually impenetrable barrier to many wild species.” It doesn't surprise me: we have this extraordinary ability to cut millennial ecosystems in two without batting an eyelid, and then be amazed when nature collapses.
The impact was devastating for many animals: inability to hunt, reproduce, expand. With predictable yet ignored consequences: forced inbreeding, territorial disputes in confined spaces, deaths from collisions with vehicles. This is what happens when urbanization does not take into account thetechnology: in this case, it does not take into account the ecological corridors that existed for millennia before our arrival.
It is paradoxical how we, who think we are so intelligent, need decades to understand the obvious: we cannot simply erase natural connections without suffering the consequences.
Ecoponte, a colossus that weighs (literally)
Last Wednesday, April 17, construction crews installed the first girder of the ecobridge that will span America’s busiest highway. Beth Pratt, Regional Director of the National Wildlife Federation for California, described the experience as “cathartic.” And I can understand her: seeing that first beam lowered in the middle of the night, amid applause, must have been like witnessing a first timid step toward redemption.
Because this eco-bridge, you have understood, is not just any little bridge: it is a gentle giant of engineering. The beams (enormous “boxes” of reinforced concrete) are the first level of a scaffolding which will ultimately measure 64 meters by 53. Each individual beam weighs between 126 and 140 tons; heavier (as I mentioned) than 14 African elephants put together.
It will take 30 to 45 days to install all 82 necessary beams. A titanic task that requires closing the highway for five hours every night. But it's worth it, right?
A global model of coexistence
This eco-bridge will allow puma, gray foxes, coyote e mule deer to safely cross that highway that had cut their natural habitat in two, separating the Santa Monica Mountains from the Sierra Madre mountain range.
The 92 million euro project will be completed in 2026, and will become a global model for wildlife conservation in urban environments.
What strikes me most is the underlying message: we can still repair, at least in part, the damage caused. It is an act of humility, of acknowledging our past mistakes. It is a structure that says: “Yes, we made mistakes, but we are willing to invest time, money and ingenuity to fix them.” Or am I too naive?
However, in a world where ecological catastrophes seem to pile up one after the other, this eco-bridge that literally “vegetates” above the Californian asphalt is a promise, a green dream of coexistence that, beam after beam, is finally taking shape.
