Elephant Flyovers

Elevated crossings designed to protect Indian elephants from road and rail accidents.

The Times of India reported on India’s novel pachyderm road safety project:

Call it a grand trunk road. The National Highways Authority of India says it will build the world’s first flyover corridors for elephantsover the highway and railway line that cut through Rajaji National Park[in Uttarakhand state].

Assuming the $13 million project is approved by India’s Supreme Court, two concrete corridors will rise at a shallow gradient: each will be 1.2 kilometers long and 100 meters wide, and both will be lined with local trees and vegetation to ensure the elephants are at ease.

Describing the plight of Raja, a 19-year-old orphan, The Asia Timesexplained the need for this project:

An air of torment surrounds young Raja, even as he fussily picks at his late morning snack of sugar cane, part of the 200 kilograms of vegetarian food and 100 liters of water that the elephant needs as its daily diet. ”Raja is moody, troubled and often angry,” elephant keeper Riyas Khan explained to me on a cloudy Tuesday morning. “He cannot be trusted with people, and is often disturbed.”

Raja has every reason to be disturbed. He was part of a family of six wild elephants struck in a train accident seven years ago on the rail track cutting through the wildlife reserve. Raja was the sole survivor. Forest officials rescued the baby orphan, and he lives with two other rescued and now tamed young elephants adjacent to the Rajaji National Park entrance gate.

According to The Guardian, at least 118 elephants have died on Indian railway lines since 1987.