Nawalpur, Oct 4: Two additional overhead canopy bridges are set to be installed along the Narayangarh-Butwal section of the East-West Highway to provide monkeys with safer crossings and reduce wildlife-related road accidents.
The structures will be built in forest areas between Kawasoti and Lokaha and between Chormara and Arunkhola. The highway section has been widened to four lanes in line with Asian highway standards.
Shiva Khanal, information officer for the eastern section of the Narayanghat Butwal Road Expansion Project, said increasing movement of monkeys from the hills towards the Tarai has contributed to accidents as the animals cross the highway.
Some accidents involving monkeys have resulted in human fatalities, prompting the project to introduce dedicated crossings, he said.
A similar canopy bridge has already been installed in the Pitaunji forest at Gaindakot 10 in Nawalparasi East. Monkeys have occasionally been observed using the structure, although officials say more time is needed to determine how effective it will be.
To encourage the animals to become familiar with the crossing, the project plans to initially place fruit around the bridge.
The existing canopy bridge is 34 metres long and four feet wide, spanning the highway above moving traffic. It was constructed under the road project’s biodiversity conservation and promotion programme.
According to Khanal, each such bridge can be built for less than Rs 500,000, offering a relatively low-cost option for reducing collisions between vehicles and wildlife.
The project expects the crossings to help animals maintain their natural movement between forest areas without having to enter the highway.
Officials say the initiative is also intended to limit the impact of road expansion on wildlife habitats and make highway infrastructure more compatible with biodiversity conservation.
Alongside the canopy crossings, the Narayaghat Butwal road project has introduced other conservation measures in nearby forests. These include building water ponds for wildlife and supporting anti-poaching efforts.
The project hopes such measures will help reduce conflicts between expanding transport infrastructure and wildlife while improving road safety for motorists.
People’s News Monitoring Service
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