In early November 2025, Desert Monitor volunteers Virgil Swadley, Keith Kleber, and Kyle Rohlfing joined wildlife biologist Jessica Moreno to install 5 new wildlife cameras in the abandoned railroad underpass at I-10 near Avra Valley Road. The underpass, partially blocked by concrete vehicle barriers, is the only safe crossing point across I-10 for wildlife moving between the Tucson and Tortolita Mountains. But do animals actually use it?

Now the proof is in: just a few days after the cameras began monitoring the underpass, we saw our first photos and video footage of both coyotes and bobcats using the railroad underpass, and traveling in both directions.

Time will tell if other species, such as mule deer, javelina, or mountain lion, are also using the underpass on a regular basis. Some shy species, like deer, bighorn sheep, and kit foxes, might be less likely to navigate the many barriers to get through this loud, urban crossing location, which is also complicated by frontage roads, railroad tracks, a water canal, and the Santa Cruz River levee (a steep cement soil wall that controls floodwater).

For now, we are glad to know that there IS at least some connectivity (animal movement that connects different gene pools) between wildlife populations on either side of I-10. But there is still work to do!

The Arizona Department of Transportation plans to remove the old railroad underpass sometime in the future, to use the soil for a nearby interchange project and flatten the Interstate here. Without any wildlife crossings across I-10, the linkage will be functionally broken, and we risk losing many wildlife species in the Tucson Mountains forever.

At the Coalition, we are working on both short-term and long-term solutions to make it safer for coyotes, bobcats, and other species to cross the big divide between the Tucson and Tortolita Mountains.

How can we connect the Tucson and Tortolita Mountains?

• The newly built Santa Cruz River Wildlife Ramp will help wildlife traverse the river and its steep levees. Wildlife funnel fencing will guide wildlife through this passage.
  
• A wildlife bridge over I-10 at Avra Valley Road would allow wildlife to fully move between these mountains. We continue to advocate for this solution!