In the last four years, cars killed 100 deer in a one-mile section of State Road 73 in Eagle Mountain. And the collisions totaled many of the cars.
Leslie Beck, the Utah Department of Transportation’s Saratoga Springs maintenance station supervisor, was tired of the carnage. The agency pondered wildlife bridges, tunnels or fencing — but it was all expensive and required time-consuming environmental studies. Then Beck came up with what UDOT thinks will be a quick, cheap and first-of-its-kind solution.
The agency this week installed and is starting to test using radar-equipped signs that flash warnings to drivers when deer or other wildlife walk or run into range.