Better Bridges: Good for People and for Birds

Bad design can affect the environment in a variety of ways, including the destruction of wildlife habitat.

Evidence of that phenomenon can be found along a stretch of Commonwealth Avenue in Fullerton, California, where Daniel Ebuehi, project specialist with MCG Arhcitecture, recently spotted several dead birds near a tunnel with a vehicle underpass and a train overpass.

Besides the dead birds, Ebuehi writes that the accumulation of bird droppings on a net mesh atop steel beam flanges also presented a health hazard to the public in the form of exposure to potential diseases, both caused by the tunnel’s faulty design.

“At this point I realized why bad designs create bad contexts. Here, the wrong choices resulted in potential hazard to the public and to the natural cycle of life. And, there are diseases and other associated risks with an accumulation of bird droppings and human contact at the site. Hence the problem, here, is that bad design is causing birds to die and dead birds are inevitably affecting human life; further destroying the design; a cycle.”

Ebuehi goes on to discuss the importance—to wildlife and humans alike—of programming infrastructure design with wildlife in mind.