Governor Polis has issued an executive order calling on two departments of state government to address the issues of big game migration and car vs. animal crashes. Polis says there are 4,000 such crashes each year resulting in 80-million dollars in damage.
The Department of Natural Resources will study migration patterns and how development may be altering the way big game animals move about our state. CDOT is being charged with developing pathways for animals to avoid vehicular traffic. Colorado has already had success with animal overpasses and underpasses. Accidents in those areas have been dramatically reduced.
Polis says spending money on those pathways is far cheaper than what Colorado pays in damages and unnecessary deaths and injuries.