Osburn wildlife crossing gains support

OSBURN — The Osburn Interstate 90 overpass that cannot be reached by vehicle from either side has seemingly been hidden in plain sight for more than 50 years.

While it serves as a momentary bit of shade from the sun or cover from the elements to east and westbound traffic, seemingly few have wondered what purpose the overpass actually serves or what its potential is.

Silver Valley resident Carl Wilson is one of these few who have.

On Feb. 26, Wilson gathered several community leaders and governmental agency representatives at the Shoshone County District No. 1 firehouse in Osburn (not far from the bridge to the north) to discuss the idea of turning the abandoned structure into a wildlife crossing for big game.

"My concern is for the elk, the safety of the people on the road and any animal looking to cross the freeway," he said at the meeting.

"Three weeks ago, I know of two elk that were killed right over here on the freeway," Wilson said. "There were 25 head of elk out there and they got spooked and ran across."

According to Idaho Transportation Department Public Information Officer Megan Jahns, the bridge was constructed in 1969 to serve as an overpass.

"It was never planned to be an interchange," she added. "Our records do not indicate why it was built, but there are theories that it was meant to serve a mining company or possibly a county dump."

Whatever the reason for its creation though, it never materialized and the bridge has officially never had a single vehicle cross it.

In the 1990s, ITD was approached by a reclamation company involved with the Bunker Hill Superfund site to open the bridge to traffic so they could haul waste out, but the request never materialized and no action was taken.

For years, Wilson has pushed for the idea of finally giving the bridge a purpose and now members of the community are starting to offer their support.

At the last Friday meeting, Wilson and the attendees batted around what would be needed to transform the structure.

Kirsten Vorhees, a Silver Valley native who has helped design pre-manufacture bridges in the past, and Norm Merz, Idaho Department of Fish and Game regional wildlife habitat manager, suggested looking at other wildlife crossings for ideas. They also stressed that fencing to funnel animals to the bridge and new hoof-friendly terrain on the bridge itself would be absolutely needed.

Per its last inspection by ITD in April 2019, the bridge was rated as being in poor condition.

"It has been struck several times by traffic and the girders have never been repaired,” Jahns said. “The inspector recommended that the bridge be removed to allow safe passage of overheight loads, but no plans have been made."

Jahns also stressed that the structure is not a danger to the traveling public at this point in time, and there are other bridges that serve traffic that need repairs.

With the renewed interest from the community in using the bridge, ITD bridge engineering and PI staff are looking more into the matter and plan to conduct another bridge inspection in a month or so. ITD-D1 Sr. Env. Planner Mike Hartz told Merz that this inspection will help determine if there are any structural concerns, damage or engineering recommendations for maintaining (or demolishing) the existing bridge.

According to crash data from January 2008 to November 2020, there have been 132 crashes between mileposts 56 and 60 on I-90. Of those crashes, roughly 17% were related to wild animals on the highway. None of the crashes resulted in injuries or fatalities.

This data from ITD only includes crash reports submitted by law enforcement — it does not include animals that were struck and later picked up by road crews. Jahns added that reported wildlife-vehicle crashes are roughly 30-40% lower than the actual collisions that happen.

"People tend to not report them if they have minor damage to their car, but normally it is fatal to the animal," Jahns said.

Wilson said at the meeting that he has already received support from several local organizations and companies that could donate resources and/or manpower for the project, but he is hopeful that the bridge's ITD managers will get onboard.

"One person can't do it all himself," Wilson said.

ITD does not have funding dedicated specifically for wildlife accommodations, but addresses them on a project-by-project basis as wildlife crossing highways poses a significant threat to drivers.

If the conversion of the Osburn bridge succeeds, it would be the first overpass (as opposed to the underpasses ITD has built to date) for wildlife and the first bridge to be repurposed this way in Idaho. There are other wildlife overpasses planned for ID-21 and for US-30 but they have not been constructed yet.

If you would like to get involved in the project, contact Wilson by email at cwilson4570@yahoo.com.