Haagse Bos, an inner-city park of 100 hectares with country houses and monumental ponds, was once part of a vast area of woodland. Urban development and busy roads now surround the woods, limiting the ecological connection with the adjacent areas. For small mammals such as the red squirrel and pine marten, the area is too small to keep populations healthy in the long term. To prevent inbreeding a larger gene pool is needed and thus a larger habitat. To this end, a fauna passage was constructed over the motorway between Haagse Bos and the estates Clingendael and Oosterbeek. Squirrels and pine martens use treetops to get from one place to the next, so they would not readily crawl through a tunnel under the road. The bridge consists of triangular steel girders supported by striking steel columns on both sides of the road. Wires were strung from the surrounding trees to the bridge for the animals to make the crossing. This gives the crossing a total length of 55 metres. A simple rope bridge was not possible because of the size of the road and the safety rules for traffic and animals. Camera observations showed that the bridge is regularly used, according to natural migration peaks of the squirrel, in spring and autumn.
-Den Haag(NL) 2012
-Gemeente (Municipality of) Den Haag
more info: website gemeente Den Haag
