CORRECTION

A front-page story Monday incorrectly reported the population density for deer. The correct rule of thumb is 30 deer for each square mile.

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DURHAM -- With the dull thrum of traffic overhead, nature enthusiast John Kent sketches a mind's-eye journey along the muddy banks of New Hope Creek.

"Imagine you're a deer or animal and all of a sudden -- BANG! There's this," Kent said.

He sweeps his left arm toward the twin concrete-and-steel spans carrying U.S. 15-501 across the creek to drive home his point.

How deer and other wildlife deal with the sudden, looming thunder of a highway bridge is a crucial issue for Kent and other citizen-activists.

They successfully lobbied the N.C. Department of Transportation to double the length of the twin spans when construction crews start widening a short portion of this artery between Durham and Chapel Hill just east of the Interstate 40 interchange. They hope the longer bridge will encourage more deer to use the creekside crossing.

The wildlife factor is playing an increasingly critical role in route selection and roadway design for highway projects from North Carolina's coastal lowlands to the mountains -- sometimes adding millions to construction costs.

The beneficiaries range from black bear to red wolf to white-tailed deer -- a suburban scourge. But the goals are the same: preserving habitat and building critter-friendly passageways to reduce collisions between wildlife and cars.

A scientific first

Consider the new four-lane route for U.S. 64 between Roper and Creswell, about 145 miles east of Raleigh. This Washington County four-lane opened Aug. 30 -- just in time to handle Labor Day weekend beach traffic.

The road includes three wildlife bridges, which cost a total of $2.7 million and enable animals to travel under U.S. 64. The bridges represent a scientific first for the state, said Scott Osborne, surveys and research coordinator for the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission.

Engineers and wildlife biologists conducted an extensive study to determine three primary travel corridors for bears, wolves and deer. State highway officials ponied up $115,000 -- about half the cost -- to help the Wildlife Resources Commission pay nationally reknowned University of Tennessee bear experts to conduct this research.

This growing alliance between highway engineers and wildlife is driven by environmental regulations, the state's high population growth and the resulting pace of new road construction.

"It does touch on our No. 1 mission, which is highway safety," said Roger Sheats, the N.C. Department of Transportation's deputy secretary of environment, planning and local government affairs. "If wildlife learn how to use the crossings, there's less of a chance of a collision between animals and cars."

Officials also hope the alliance will foster a compromise between road builders and environmental agencies and activists. The two sides have traditionally engaged in the legal equivalent of trench warfare.

"It's just the cost of doing business now," said Mike Bryant, manager of the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge in Dare County. The 152,000-acre federal preserve is home to black bear and red wolves and is in the path of the next phase of the four-lane expansion of U.S. 64 between Raleigh and the coast.

When it comes to collisions between cars and animals in North Carolina, almost 92 percent of the wrecks involve deer. This highly adaptive herbivore thrives in rural fields and woods and at the edges of suburban development.

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