The cost of this bridge would have been $5000 a squirrel. It would have saved an estimated 5 squirrels a year from becoming roadkill. Amortized over a ten year period, the cost per 'squirrel death saved' would have been $25,000 per squirrel. The cancellation came after news reports brought the project to the public's attention. Taxpayers have had a very small part of their faith in government sanity restored. So far, the squirrels have failed to comment.
ABC News reported:
Arizona abruptly canceled plans today to spend $1.25 million to build bridges for a colony of 250 squirrels so they would not have to cross a rural road and could avoid becoming road kill.
John Halikowski, director of Arizona's Department of Transportation, halted the bridge project...
"Protection of the red squirrel may be an appropriate effort," Halikowski said, "but not with transportation funding."
The money was being spent, officials said, because cars kill about five of these squirrels each year...
The fact they were even considering wasting this kind of money on a squirrel bridge is astounding.
ReplyDeleteWell you know I see the plain old black squirrels using telephone lines to cross the roads safely all the time, if these Red squirrels are too dumb to do so then who are we to interfere with evolution :)
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