Laguna Canyon Road overpass for wildlife: Would it help traffic, safety?

A task force charged with identifying ways to improve safety and traffic flow on Laguna Canyon Road has another element to consider: a wildlife crossing.

Elisabeth Brown, president of Laguna Greenbelt, on Wednesday raised the idea of an overpass for animals, such as deer and bobcats, enabling them to reach wilderness areas bisected by the state highway.

Because Laguna is surrounded by 20,000 acres of dedicated open space, the crossing seems an appropriate consideration, Brown told her fellow members of the Laguna Canyon Road Task Force, which is made up of business owners, residents and representatives from several community organizations.

Crossings have been built over highways in Minnesota and Banff in Alberta, Canada, Brown said.

Another is planned for an eight-lane stretch of the 101 Freeway in Agoura Hills.

The cost for the Agoura Hills project is $10 million, Brown said, but a crossing over the two-lane Laguna Canyon Road is likely to be less expensive.

The idea for a wildlife crossing came after a deer hit Brown’s daughter’s car several years ago.

“She was terrorized,” Brown said. “She thought it was a person. [The deer] was still screaming when it hit her car.”

Wildlife can cross under Laguna Canyon Road where it meets the 73 Freeway, but Brown said no studies have been done on how often animals traverse the area.

Task force member John Hamil appeared interested in the idea, but said more information is needed to determine whether animals would use the crossing.

“Everyone in the room wants to help the animals,” Hamil said, but not spend millions of dollars “and not get the effect we want.”

Some task force members also want to explore whether additional utility wires could be placed under ground along Laguna Canyon Road.

Southern California Edison is planning to “underground” lower-voltage equipment, but certain transmission lines and poles that carry as much as 66,000 volts of electricity are not slated for repositioning because the process for moving them is more complicated and costly, Laguna Beach’s Public Works Director Steve May said Thursday.

“There is no funding currently to pay for the cost,” May said.

The task force hopes to bring two or three recommendations to the City Council by summer.