A £3.7million ‘green bridge’ will open next month to help toads and badgers cross an A-road in Surrey.
The 68-metre Cockcrow Bridge spans the A3 near Cobham and is covered in heather and shrubs to provide a safe route for wildlife.
Believed to be the first of its kind in Britain, the bridge connects two heathlands which were divided when the road was built in the 1970s.
A pedestrian bridge had previously spanned the major road, which will be replaced by the new green incarnation.
Conservationists hope the effort will support animals including grass snakes, adders, badgers, bats and toads, which all live in Ockham and Wisley commons on either side of the 30m-wide bridge.
Rare nightjar and Dartford warbler birds also rely on the heathlands to breed.
National Highways, which maintains Britain’s major A-roads, said the bridge would ‘reconnect the commons either side of the A3 and provide a natural and safe corridor for local wildlife’.
‘It has been designed with reptiles and invertebrates at its heart,’ a spokesman added.
The 60m-long bridge will open next month and provide safe passage for snakes, badgers, bats and toads
Spanning the A3 in Surrey, the new 30m-wide connection replaces the previous pedestrian bridge
National Highways is building two more green bridges in Cornwall and Gloucestershire.
The Marazanvoze will pass over the A30 in the south-west and give badgers and voles a safe route across the road.
A hedgerow-lined grassland bridge over the A417 will allow wildlife to travel alongside pedestrians, horse riders and cyclists on the 100-mile Gloucestershire Way walking path.
Steve Elderkin, the director of environmental sustainability at National Highways, said: ‘While roads have always connected people and places, they are too often a barrier for nature, severing habitats and contributing to the decline in biodiversity.
‘Our green bridges are designed to blend with the landscape and connect habitats, animals and people, leaving a lasting legacy to ensure nature thrives.’
The HS2 railway project from London to Birmingham will include 16 green bridges and five green tunnels.
In 2024 the chair of HS2 Ltd revealed it would spend £100million on a bat tunnel to appease Natural England because the creatures are protected.
