this post was submitted on 21 Feb 2026
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UK Nature and Environment

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A groundbreaking wildlife bridge is under construction in Gloucestershire, with completion expected for 2027. The Gloucestershire Way bridge, set to be the UK's largest wildlife crossing, is part of the A417 Missing Link project, an initiative designed to build new roads while preserving the Cotswolds ' natural beauty and wildlife.

The wildlife bridge is a pivotal component of the A417 project, with an estimated cost of £460million. The wildlife corridor, which crosses the new A417 dual carriageway between Gloucester and Cirencester, will measure 37 metres in length, featuring a 27-metre stretch of grassland and a hedgerow.

The bridge will also accommodate walkers, cyclists and horse riders.

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[–] arcine@jlai.lu 0 points 2 months ago

I am confused as to how this helps bats ?

[–] stoy@lemmy.zip 0 points 2 months ago (2 children)

I didn't know bats needed bridges to cross motorways.

[–] GreyShuck@feddit.uk 0 points 2 months ago (1 children)

It depends on the species. Some tend to follow hedgerows or lines of trees etc. They would find a motorway to be a barrier, but would cross using something like this.

[–] stoy@lemmy.zip 0 points 2 months ago

Ah, interesting!

[–] Chee_Koala@lemmy.world 0 points 2 months ago

We have some monkey ropes leading up to a smaller cage style bridge, so they can climb the rope to the bridge and then be somewhat shielded from all the motor traffic. apparently crossing the road, even in the air, is kind of intense for a lot of bats.

[–] LodeMike@lemmy.today 0 points 2 months ago

I wish cities would build these over highways

[–] Blackmist@feddit.uk 0 points 2 months ago (3 children)

I'm all for this, but how on Earth does a simple bridge cost £460 million? Just putting that in the headline feels like rage bait.

[–] Hirom@beehaw.org 0 points 2 months ago

That sounds crazy expensive, like everything related to car infrastructure. The width of the bridge and big number of lanes to cross probably increases cost as well.

The solution isn't to give up on wildlife crossing, it's to reduce the number of lanes of course.

[–] GreyShuck@feddit.uk 0 points 2 months ago (2 children)

According to this, the entire road project is costing £500 million, so I doubt that this figure is for the bridge alone.

[–] Blackmist@feddit.uk 0 points 2 months ago (1 children)

That makes more sense. Seems like a terrible headline from the Mirror, and probably entirely on purpose at that...

[–] Hirom@beehaw.org 0 points 2 months ago

This post should be taken down if the article is misinformation.

[–] Hadriscus@jlai.lu 0 points 2 months ago

oof. I thought, someone must be embezzling

[–] hades@feddit.uk 0 points 2 months ago

you right, it will actually cost 800-900 million probably

[–] Cheesus@lemmy.ca 0 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Groundbreaking? Not exactly, wildlife crossings on major highways have been in Canada since the 90's.

[–] blackn1ght@feddit.uk 0 points 2 months ago

We've got existing ones in the UK too. Not sure what's groundbreaking about this particular bridge.

[–] hades@feddit.uk 0 points 2 months ago

Not sure what they mean by “groundbreaking”: wildlife bridges existed since 1950s: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildlife_crossing

[–] blackn1ght@feddit.uk 0 points 2 months ago

Practical Engineering on YouTube has a great video about the hidden engineering of wildlife bridges, if anyone is interested in that kind of thing.