GREEN RIVER -- The energy boom has brought increased truck and car traffic along U.S. 789 between Creston Junction on Interstate 80 and Baggs in recent years.

The result has been the loss of several hundred deer each year to vehicle mortality as they migrate across the busy Carbon County highway to winter range.

Those deer are getting some help to avoid collisions with vehicles after state officials recently installed a wildlife highway underpass near Baggs.

The underpass project is a joint effort between the Wyoming Department of Transportation, the Game and Fish Department, the Wyoming Landscape Conservation Initiative, and the Wyoming Natural Resource Trust Fund.

The project is another piece in a larger state effort to assist migrating mule deer across many busy highways in Wyoming through the construction of a series of wildlife underpasses and overpasses.

"This project is a welcome sight to wildlife managers in the Baggs area," said Mark Zornes, Game and Fish's Green River wildlife management coordinator. "It is a great first effort (around Baggs) to reduce deer-vehicle collisions.

"It's a win-win situation for motorists and mule deer."

The 20-by-20 foot underpass was installed this summer on U.S. 789 at a site between the old ghost town of Dad and Baggs, which lies near the Wyoming-Colorado border.

As part of the project, WYDOT workers installed approximately five miles of fencing along the highway right-of-way to help reduce the number of deer killed.

Workers also provided deer access to a large existing culvert around Five-Mile Point to facilitate mule deer migration.

Zornes said the Baggs mule deer herd loses "a few hundred deer each year to vehicle mortality as a direct result of increased traffic associated with energy development" in the region.

Deer mortality resulting from vehicle collisions has been a significant concern over the years -- particularly along migration routes -- to both WYDOT and Game and Fish officials. The risks to motorists is also a huge concern.

About 1,800 vehicle-wildlife collisions are reported each year on Wyoming highways, causing an average of 149 injuries and two deaths annually over the past decade, according to WYDOT data.

The state has been working for several years on how best to increase both driver safety and animal survival. Officials believe the construction of highway underpasses, overpasses and fencing can be a model for the rest of the nation.

The state finished a two-year project this summer to install six deer underpasses along U.S. Highway 30 in Nugget Canyon west of Kemmerer, the largest effort yet to assist migrating mule deer across a busy Wyoming highway.

Webcams installed in several Nugget Canyon underpasses last winter have documented that deer are moving heavily through the tunnels, which seems to confirm the success of the project.

State officials say they want to construct a network of 30 or more wildlife underpasses and overpasses along sections of U.S. Highway 191 near historic Trapper's Point west of Pinedale, on U.S. Highway 189 near Kemmerer, and on Interstate 80 near Elk Mountain and Wamsutter.

To help pay for the effort, WYDOT officials applied last month for $100 million in federal economic stimulus funding to build more of the wildlife-friendly underpasses.

Zornes said a Game and Fish wildlife technician began baiting the underpass and culvert Monday to lure deer. He said the worker will be baiting mule deer through May.

Contact southwest Wyoming bureau reporter Jeff Gearino at 307-875-5359 or gearino@tribcsp.com