A wildlife overpass in Democrat-run California remains unfinished and has gone far over budget, according to a report from the City Journal.
The Journal’s Wednesday article about the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing (WAWC),which is located over US-101 in Agoura Hills, said Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) boasted in 2022 that the state had committed $54 million for the project, which was supposed to be a “safe and sustainable wildlife crossing.”
“He promised to ‘complete the job within another $10 million,’ before seeming to hedge on whether that final sum would do the trick,” the report stated. “Officials projected a 2025 completion date for the overpass, and estimated that the entire project—which includes the bridge and other ancillary developments—would cost $92 million, some of it coming from private philanthropists.”
However, the unfinished bridge is $21 million over its budget, has turned into a jobs program for environmentalists, and is costing taxpayers money, the Journal stated.
As more money was thrown at the project, its “total price tag now reaches about $114 million, reportedly including some $77 million in state funds,” according to the article.
Indeed, the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy website said the WAWC was expected to be completed in 2025.
The site explained WAWC’s purpose:
The purpose of the project is to provide a safe and sustainable passage for wildlife across US-101 near Liberty Canyon Road in the City of Agoura Hills that reduces wildlife death and allows for the movement of animals and the exchange of genetic material. Without a safe and sustainable wildlife crossing, movement between these remaining areas of natural habitat is severely restricted and wildlife within the Santa Monica Mountains is essentially trapped.
The Journal article was published as California has been under the microscope regarding money issues.
In January Vice President JD Vance said about $7 billion worth of Small Business Administration (SBA) fraud was discovered in the state, and the SBA later suspended more than 111,000 California borrowers, per Breitbart News.
In addition, “An effort to root out corruption, waste, fraud, and abuse in Democrat-led California’s government has reportedly uncovered that almost $1 billion was taken from a solar panel program and given to Democrat causes,” the outlet reported in February.
More recently, CBS National Correspondent Adam Yamaguchi reported on hospice fraud in California, and Breitbart News reported about the state’s top librarian being questioned about $650,000 in missing funds linked to a Dolly Parton literacy program.
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