RMS announced this week that a $7.5 million animal crossing overpass would be built along Mona Vale Road West this week. The 40-metre Mona Vale Road West overpass will link Ku-ring-gai and Garigal National Parks. Fauna exclusion fencing will prevent the animals crossing elsewhere.
NSW Roads Minister Melinda Pavey said the $7.5 million project would include vegetation to entice native animal species to cross the 40-metre overpass;
'We want to ensure that area, surrounded by two National Parks - a very important area, part of the lungs of Sydney - that we protect that native wildlife by putting in the appropriate infrastructure to protect them into the future,' NSW Roads Minister Melinda Pavey said.
The wildlife bridge is the first of its kind in Sydney and it is hoped its installation will prevent the high number of fauna deaths the stretch of road has become renowned for. Many animals, including possums and wallabies, are often killed by cars along the stretch of Mona Vale Road. Sydney Wildlife volunteers find joeys in pouches, some of which have been rescued and raised by carers.
'We'll have fences along the side so animals can't drop off onto the road,' Jacqui Marlow of Pittwater Natural Heritage Association said.
The PNHA has lobbied for years to establish the need for fauna passes when the Mona Vale road upgrades commence, part of which has been identifying where our local fauna passes from one part of the reserves to the other.
Sydney Wildlife, whose volunteers are called out to rescue animals hit by cars on these stretches of road, along with Wildlife Roadkill Prevention Association, all locally initiated community groups, have worked in concert with PNHA to monitor and collect data for years working towards this aim - to protect the animals that live here and in doing so, avert accidents to those using the road as well.
During this week some readers may have seen a Channel 9 news report on the announcement, which include a Ch9 crew visit to the Sydney Wildlife Fauna Rehabilitation at Terrey Hills, also run by volunteers and solely through donations. Chris O'Keefe the on camera reporter, clearly enjoyed being around the animals being cared for at the rehabilitation centre and at one stage bent down to garner a response on the news from Cloudy, one of the joeys rescued by SW volunteers;
Caption; 'Cloudy says: on behalf of all of us macropods we'd like to send a big thank you to RMS, the roadkill people who rescue us from our dead mums and to PNHA.' Photo by and courtesy Lynleigh Grieg.
The fauna overpass is one of four slated for the long awaited upgrade with a fauna underpass also part of Mona Vale West upgrades and the same slated for the Mona Vale East upgrade; one fauna overpass and one fauna underpass.
Tenders for the Mona Vale Road East upgrade are currently open with works slated to commence later in 2018. The MVRE Upgrade is changing 3.2 kilometres of Mona Vale Road from two lanes to four lanes between Manor Road, Ingleside and Foley Street, Mona Vale. Roads and Maritime has completed the detailed design for Mona Vale Road East, which included a number of refinements to the road upgrade. The NSW Government has allocated $140m to complete the project.
The Mona Vale Road West upgrade also includes widening the two lanes to four. The RMS March 2018 Mona Vale Road update runs below. You can keep up to date with the Mona Vale road Upgrade project on the RMS project webpage here.
As it will clearly be a while until the fauna passes, under and over, are installed, bearing in mind we live in an environment we share with other animals may mitigate the daily toll of fauna loss when driving on Mona Vale road.
Further reading
Community Feedback Sought On Mona Vale Road Upgrade - from Office of The Hon. Rob Stokes, MP for Pittwater
Connecting wildlife habitats to prevent road kill by David Palmer, Pittwater Natural Heritage Association
Bill To Facilitate Mona Vale Road Upgrades Passes: Vital Fauna Bridge Discussed - Stage 3, Mona Vale Road Upgrade- West, one step closer
Funding Secured To Commence Mona Vale Road Upgrade - from Office of The Hon. Rob Stokes, MP for Pittwater
Mona Vale Road East Upgrade: Proposed Lease Of Land To Roads And Maritime Services (RMS) - Council Invites Your Say
Front Page Issue 330: Jumping For Joy: Fauna Crossing For Mona Vale Road Confirmed
Plans Accelerate For Mona Vale Road East Upgrade - from Office of The Hon. Rob Stokes, MP for Pittwater
Another Doe eyed innocent gone
February 2, 2016 - Ingleside, NSW
I've been thinking all day about whether I should post this or not, but have decided people need to know.
I am a volunteer with Sydney Wildlife and check the roadkill along any road I drive down as there may be a live joey in the pouch. My normal route is along the Mona Vale Road, which is horrendous for animals being killed.
This morning I saw a wallaby on the side of the road, against the rock face, just past Mona Vale cemetery and, as usual, had to drive a bit to find a safe stopping place. I donned my hi-vis, spray paint in hand (to let others know I'd checked the animal) & walked over to it. However, this time was a little different. He was ALIVE!! He looked up at me with deep, sad eyes and tried to crawl away from this scary thing coming towards him. I quickly grabbed the base of his tail, took my hi-vis off & placed it over his head to try to calm him. He lay there breathing heavily and in obvious pain with a deep laceration and possible broken bones. As I waited for the police and my amazing Sydney Wildlife colleagues to arrive, Lynleigh Greig and Jacqui Marlow, I was amazed at the lack of respect from the traffic as people sped by me, inches from me. Hardly anyone even slowed down.
I know some people may say I should have moved him to a safer place but that had huge safety issues in itself. If you've ever tried to control a wild, scared and pained wallaby, you'd know this is not something to attempt on your own, so I deemed it safe to sit tight & hope people would have the sense to slow down.
It saddens me to say only one person slowed to ask if I was ok. Until the police got there and of course everyone slowed down then.
The little guy has spent all day in deep sedation on strong pain meds, awaiting his fate with one of the best wildlife vets around. He has a broken pelvis which, hopefully, can be fixed.
All I ask is that people slow down on our roads and be more aware of our wildlife. You could save their life, but also yours, in more ways than one.
**UPDATE - He just died. He was sedated so didn't feel pain but he lost his fight. R.I.P little fella.
Horacio Palmer
- sourced from Wildlife Roadkill Prevention Association facebook post
