Caltrans: We Don't Want Another Bird to Die

Caltrans says it has repaired the netting under the Petaluma River Bridge that environmentalists have blamed for killing hundreds of birds over the past several weeks.

On Tuesday, the transportation agency announced that it had closed the gaps in the netting that had caused cliff swallows to get tangled, adding that biologists were continuing to inspect work sites at the Petaluma River Bridge and the State Route 116 interchange.

“We don’t want another bird to die,” said Caltrans spokeswoman Tamie McGowen in a prepared statement. “That’s why we have the nets up in the first place.”

But Veronica Bowers, director of Native Songbird Care & Conservation in Sebastopol, says the federally protected birds are still finding intrusion points in order to nest under the two bridges.

“The netting remains a hazard and it needs to be taken down,” she said, adding that a Teflon coating is the best option to prevent birds from landing there. “Birds are now nesting on top of the netting and still getting caught. This has been a complete misappropriation of federal funds.”

An email and phone call to Caltrans on Tuesday were not returned.

The $77 million Sonoma-Marin Narrows project will replace the existing Petaluma River Bridge with a new, wider structure that will eventually accommodate new HOV lanes.  It will also eliminate nine access points, reconstruct the Petaluma Boulevard South interchange, and construct or widen 2.5 miles of frontage roads. 

A second $26 million project will widen the southbound State Route 116 separation bridge, and replace the northbound State Route 116 separation bridge.

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