Design: The Highway Bridge Meant to Save Animal Lives

Today in Design we go a little outside the norm with Eco-Link Bridge in Singapore. Each year you hear thousands of stories of cars hitting animals that are trying to cross a busy highway. Unfortunately, animals don’t know when to cross and are often not quick enough to avoid getting struck. This is where the Eco-Link Bridge comes in. Built between 2011 and 2013, the $16 million bridge is unlike anything you have seen before. Rather than shuttling cars back and forth, the Eco-Link Bridge is a wooded passageway connecting the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve to the Central Catchment Nature Reserve. Spanning 62 meters across 6 lanes of traffic, the Eco-Link allows endangered animals like the Sunda Pangolin to safely cross the busy Bukit Timah Expressway. Reports and motion-sensing cameras have indicated that the bridge is being utilized by animals, resulting in a decrease in roadkill. Although we think this is a great idea and would love to see similar structure in the US, we can’t help but mention these bridges would fail in areas where significant highway fencing isn’t present. Even though Bambi was one smart cookie, we doubt he can read bridge signs. That being said, it would be great to see some moose gracefully strutting over a bridge instead of flying through someone’s windshield.