Environmental Restoration
Renewing Landscapes, Restoring Hope.
The Freeway Gets a Bridge, and the Mountains Get Their Connection Back
The wound
The 101 freeway through Agoura Hills is one of the busiest stretches of road in the country. For the animals of the Santa Monica Mountains, it’s also a wall. Mountain lions, bobcats, gray foxes, coyotes and mule deer living south of the freeway have been largely cut off from the Simi Hills and the Santa Susana Mountains to the north. Many that tried to cross died on the road.
The mountain lions have paid the most. Hemmed in by freeways and the ocean, the small population in the Santa Monica Mountains has been inbreeding, and National Park Service researchers have tracked the genetic damage for years. The most famous lion in the region, P-22, made it across both the 405 and the 101 to reach Griffith Park, where he lived alone for the rest of his life. He became the face of the campaign to build a way across.
The repair
The Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing is a planted bridge over the 101 at Liberty Canyon. It’s about 210 feet long and 174 feet wide, and it’s covered in soil and native plants instead of pavement. Caltrans calls it the largest wildlife crossing of its kind in the nation. Its backers bill it as the largest in the world.
Construction began on Earth Day 2022. The main bridge over the freeway was finished in June 2025. The second stage, a crossing over Agoura Road plus earthwork and habitat restoration on both sides, has run right up to opening. Record rains two springs in a row pushed the original 2025 target back.
The crossing is for animals only. People get a viewing area, not a path.
The 101 freeway through Agoura Hills is one of the busiest stretches of road in the country. For the animals of the Santa Monica Mountains, it’s also a wall. Mountain lions, bobcats, gray foxes, coyotes and mule deer living south of the freeway have been largely cut off from the Simi Hills and the Santa Susana Mountains to the north. Many that tried to cross died on the road.
The mountain lions have paid the most. Hemmed in by freeways and the ocean, the small population in the Santa Monica Mountains has been inbreeding, and National Park Service researchers have tracked the genetic damage for years. The most famous lion in the region, P-22, made it across both the 405 and the 101 to reach Griffith Park, where he lived alone for the rest of his life. He became the face of the campaign to build a way across.
The repair
The Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing is a planted bridge over the 101 at Liberty Canyon. It’s about 210 feet long and 174 feet wide, and it’s covered in soil and native plants instead of pavement. Caltrans calls it the largest wildlife crossing of its kind in the nation. Its backers bill it as the largest in the world.
Construction began on Earth Day 2022. The main bridge over the freeway was finished in June 2025. The second stage, a crossing over Agoura Road plus earthwork and habitat restoration on both sides, has run right up to opening. Record rains two springs in a row pushed the original 2025 target back.
The crossing is for animals only. People get a viewing area, not a path.
