Seven Sisters (conservation area)
Virginia
The Interstate 77 tunnel under this mountain corner doubles as a bridge for animals walking over the top of the traffic.
Interstate seventy-seven passes under the northeast corner of a wildland called Seven Sisters. The highway goes through a tunnel, so the forest above it stays unbroken. Animals cross over the top without ever meeting a car. The Forest Service notes that the tunnel provides a land bridge for a wildlife crossing, which removes the habitat fragmentation an interstate usually causes. The land it stitches together sits between Walker Mountain and Little Walker Mountain, about five miles north of Wytheville. Ridges of sandstone and shale run northeast to southwest here, with limestone valleys running parallel between them. One trail crosses the area. It follows the crest of Little Walker Mountain for just under five miles, climbing from twenty-five hundred feet to thirty-three hundred, and it passes over seven separate knobs. That is where the name comes from. The Wilderness Society calls the place a Mountain Treasure and wants it kept clear of logging and new roads.
This is the first of 2 parts. The rest runs about 2 minutes and is read to you as you drive past. Hear the whole piece.
By providing a land bridge for a wildlife crossing, the tunnel for I-77 eliminates the impact of habitat fragmentation on wildlife that want to cross the interstate.
Written from Wikipedia, used under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Nearby, on the same roads
- Battle of Cove Mountain 4.8 mi Wytheville's defenders had a cannon and powder but no ammunition, so a blacksmith chopped up horseshoes to fire instead.
- Wytheville Raid 5.8 mi About a hundred and twenty townspeople with single-shot muskets turned Wytheville's main street into what one Union soldier called an avenue of death.
- American Airlines Flight 009 10.2 mi Searchers spotted the wreck from the air, saw no one moving, and told the families everyone had died. Five people were still alive on the mountain.
- Dalton Theatre Building 21.1 mi A small Virginia town once had the biggest stage on the whole rail line from Richmond to Tennessee.
- Battle of Marion 23.3 mi Outnumbered nearly six to one at Marion, a Confederate general held his ground for thirty-six hours, then vanished in the dark.
- Claytor Lake 32 mi Three Virginia towns passed the hat and bought the land for a state park, then gave it away.