A busy stretch of the A3 highway in the UK is about to get a new crossing, and this one is for snakes, toads and badgers as much as people.
The UK’s first heathland green bridge is due to open in Surrey in May, according to National Highways. The £3.7 million Cockrow Bridge spans the A3 near Cobham and reconnects two rare heathland areas.
The 68-metre-long bridge is covered in heather and is intended to provide a safe crossing for wildlife and people between Ockham Common and Wisley Common. National Highways said it hopes the bridge will help wildlife on the commons to flourish.
Steve Elderkin, director of environmental sustainability at National Highways, said: “While roads have always connected people and places, they are too often a barrier for nature, severing habitats and contributing to the decline in biodiversity.”
He said, “Our green bridges are designed to blend with the landscape and connect habitats, animals and people, leaving a lasting legacy which ensures nature thrives,” according to the BBC.
The bridge is 30 metres wide and includes a path for pedestrians, horse riders and cyclists. National Highways said it is the first of its kind in the UK to support lowland heathland habitats, one of the country’s rarest habitat types.
It replaces a pedestrian bridge built in the 1980s, which provided no connectivity for wildlife between the two heathland plots. The areas have been divided since the 1970s, when the A3 was built.
Green bridges began in France in the 1950s and were pioneered in the Netherlands in 1990. There are already several wildlife-friendly green bridges in the UK, including crossings over the A556 near Chester, the A30 in Cornwall, and the A21 at Scotney Castle in Kent.
Read more from BBC News.
