Jumbo 'flyovers' to cut endangered elephant deaths in India

Indian authorities are about to build the world's first "flyover" routes for elephants to save them from accidents on roads and railways. The jumbo trunk roads, costing £9m, will be built to stop accidents on roads and railway lines that cross Rajaji national park in Uttarakhand state near the Himalayan foothills.

Two flyovers, each 1.2km long and 100 metres wide, will be covered in foliage to resemble the natural environment and encourage the animals to use them. At least 118 Asian elephants, an endangered species, have died on rail lines in India since 1987.

Highway authority plans to expand a road through the park into a four-lane highway between the pilgrim towns of Haridwar and Rishikesh have exacerbated the problem.



The solution came as plans for a vehicle flyover and an underground rail tunnel were ruled out as technically too problematic.

The park's 400 wild elephants, which usually roam in search of fresh watering holes, will enter wide funnels at either end of the elevated corridors and then be channelled on to bridges over the deadly roads.

"The elephants are very sensitive to vibrations but the experts think that if the flyover is high enough they can cross," director of conservation for the Wildlife Trust of India, Dr Rahul Kaul said. "You have to get it right first time. The problem is that there are no examples, no precedents in the world at the moment," he added.