Presented as proof that people who proudly wear the badge of “Environmentalist� on top of all others are in charge in my state and have no actual knowledge of the environment is this story about our “Need� to build overpasses for wildlife over Interstate-90 in Washington State.
Many of the massive bridges included in new state plans to widen Interstate 90 through Snoqualmie Pass will be for more than just people.
For the first time, the state is considering a series of massive culverts and overpasses to help wildlife  from elk and deer to cougars and lynx  traverse that treacherous ribbon of asphalt and get from the north side of the Cascades to the south.
Today, the state plans to release a draft of its half-billion-dollar-plus proposal to widen 15 miles of I-90 from four to six lanes from the top of the pass to Easton, Kittitas County. It will include options to straighten curves near Keechelus Lake and move highway lanes so avalanches are less likely to close the pass in winter.
And the plan also will lay out options for a series of 14 wildlife crossings, from small culverts to a 1,200-foot bridge, that would be among the first in the country designed to reverse some of the ecological damage wrought by highways that bisect wildlife habitat.
“Each of these is in areas where biologists say wildlife is likely to use them  because they’ve seen roadkill there, or the habitat is there,” said Mark Pettit, a spokesman for the state Department of Transportation.
The DOT has finished their ‘Environmental Impact Study’ (aka: free money for the envirowhacko agenda) at an unknown cost to me, the taxpayer. Their study shows that the deer population “Needs� to have a path to make it across a mountainous stretch of I-90 in order to “Help� them.
I could go on and on about how hunters are the true conservationists who actually care about the deer and about how the Doe-to-Buck ratio is twice what it should be naturally, but after I read this line I decided that I would much rather just sit here and bang my head on the desk since it’ll have the same effect.
But the structures will come at a price. Pettit said state officials estimate the crossings will cost $25 million to $100 million combined.
WTF?!? There is $75 million between those figures!
We know how much it costs to plant a culvert and build an overpass, what is the difficulty with getting an actual estimate with these guys?
I guess it doesn’t really matter. Knowing my state, it’ll actually cost $135 million.
