Wyoming wildlife crossing success nets millions for new project

Wyoming’s track record helped secure the largest federal grant in a new program that will see mule deer and pronghorn wildlife-crossings built along a 30-mile stretch of Highway 189 south of Kemmerer.

The $24.3 million federal grant to Wyoming was the largest made from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s first tranche of $109 million for a novel Wildlife Crossings Pilot Program. Wyoming will use the money to fund the bulk of the $37 million construction project that will involve fencing 30 miles of the highway, building six or so new underpasses and a wildlife bridge for skittish antelope that won’t go through a tunnel.