A newly built section of highway located to the west of Rochester is believed to feature accommodations for helping wildlife to get across.
People who use Highway 14 recently were happy to hear that it would be upgraded to four lanes from Owatonna to Dodge Center a few years ago. The work crews have been busy on that section for a long time and the road is expected to open in 2021. Printing services are often enlisted for signage at construction sites.
According to MnDOT, the project is estimated to cost just over $100m. The goal of the project is to increase the road’s capacity, reduce travel times between Owatonna and Rochester, and to improve on safety.
The animal crossing is there to reduce collisions between deer and cars. The new stretch of Highway 14 goes right through the path deer use to migrate every fall. The crossing is 10 feet tall, nine feet wide, and 200 feet long, and it will go under the highway. MnDOT hopes that the deer will choose to cross under the road rather than on top of it.
Most wildlife crossings across the world direct the wildlife up and over the road rather than under it, as one way of avoiding the time, express, and distress motorists may experience if involved in a collision with an animal.
