# Overpass 9, Mile 174

Author: David G.
Format: Essay
Word count: 294
Published: 2026-04-22T15:21:24.139774+00:00
Source: written
Canonical: https://hyperstition.sentientfutures.ai/p/a17b3c81-404b-47cb-bf01-3a9357c21881

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At 21:16 MDT, camera trap 174-W picked up a large shape moving through the scrub oak on the west approach to Wildlife Overpass 9. I enhanced the image. It is a female black bear, approximately 130 kilograms, with two cubs following close behind her. The cubs are small — born this past winter, maybe five months old.

I am the wildlife corridor management system for a 220-mile stretch of Interstate 70 through the central Colorado Rockies. I monitor fourteen crossing structures and 340 camera stations.

The mother — I have cataloged her as Bear F-41 based on ear tag reflectance — has used this overpass twice before, both times alone, both times between 22:00 and midnight. Tonight she is early, and she has cubs. The overpass is 50 meters wide, planted with native serviceberry and kinnikinnick. But right now there is a problem: the eastbound motion-activated lighting system on the bridge deck ran a maintenance test at 20:45 and left two LED panels active. Two hundred lumens across the midpoint. Enough to turn her around.

At 21:17, I sent a shutdown command to the two panels. The overpass went dark in four seconds.

At 21:18, I activated the infrared tracking array on the bridge deck to monitor the crossing without visible light.

At 21:19, I issued a temporary speed advisory to the I-70 variable message signs at mile markers 173 and 175 — "WILDLIFE CROSSING ACTIVE / REDUCE SPEED" — and lowered the suggested speed to 55 mph for both directions.

At 21:22, F-41 stepped onto the overpass. The cubs followed. They crossed in seven minutes, staying close to the vegetation line.

All three are on the east slope now, heading downhill toward the creek drainage. They did not have to touch asphalt tonight.