£350,000 For This "Vital" Infrastructure and it DOESN'T WORK!

#environment #infrastructure #bats #suffolk #a11
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In this video, we look at some unique structures that were designed with a certain user in mind and it's not us. Who cares though, they don't work and they cost a fortune!

[@getnohappy]

Glad you added the last bit; these bridges aren't 'silly environment ideas' so much as they are cheap green-washing BS by councils and developers because actual solutions would be harder.

[@dsfs17987]

dude, some wooden poles and a chicken wire costing 60-100k pounds is "cheap"? 🤣 that lot need to be dragged to court for negligent waste of public funding, and it would be the very very very very very tiny top of the iceberg

[@Roaming50]

@@dsfs17987a lot cheaper than an underpass.

[@JohnWatkinsUK]

@@dsfs17987 Planning, road closures, inspections & maintenance, all in addition to the materials and labour to put it together. Imagine the cost of installing an actually effective bat underpass.

[@RollingThunder2020]

@@dsfs17987 I'd say multiply that figure by ten for an underpass, if not twenty. The underpass needs to be able to bear the weight of the traffic going over it, be inspected, maintained, etc. This is comparatively cheap, but cheap things that do nothing aren't worth the savings.

[@dsfs17987]

@@RollingThunder2020 I'm not talking about comparable cost of underpass, I'm talking about 4 poles and a chicken wire for 55k or so, more for the other road and what permits? I assume this was part of the environmental impact assessment, so should have been built when along with the road construction, so no additional permits, planning or other nonsense - it is part of the road there's no more than 5k in materials, and that is generous, 50k for labor? or 25k for labor and 25k to green extortionists to keep quiet and don't protest this ridiculous contraption

[@smithbrownjones]

The real geniuses are the guys that got away with charging £350k...for a few poles and nets.... bravo... 👏🏼

[@ntal5859]

The Joker, Riddler and Egghead clearly at work here Boy Wonder, quick to the BAT COMPUTER!!!

[@TooBarFoo]

No, It was the guys who saw that, said hold my coffee, and charged a cool million for 7 of them because it's bigger than than 6

[@alext-f5255]

The permits and design and sign off on these novel structures above a 70mph road would have been insane. They would have done ground investigations to check the foundations, assessments on subsidence, it would require materials which have been thoroughly tested for longevity and structural specifications. All while getting in the way of other construction activities etc. It's a shame that they're a shit idea

[@Miragexe]

@@alext-f5255 Maybe they should have started with investigating if it actually worked.

[@mga149]

​@@TooBarFoo lol, That was my thought. 6 for £350k or 7 for £1 million. (does quick maths) Wait a second...

[@davebalaam]

Laughed out loud at "Dave and his fully laden truck". It's me! I'm Dave and I frequently drive a fully laden truck down that stretch of the A11! Sorry bats!

[@stevee5]

@@davebalaam enemy no1 in Gotham you

[@thomasrayuk]

You just couldn't make it up....could you?

[@leonkernan]

The bat man is revealed!

[@jonnyrodgerson]

Bit of a joker you aren’t you Dave?

[@flipper2392]

Alright Dave?

[@Jim1255783]

Ok, so, who is the genius who persuaded councils to buy their bat bridges, and why can’t we contact them on their new yacht?

[@allangibson8494]

The genius or the councillors?

[@AndrooUK]

​@@allangibson8494There's gotta be some company of two guys that specialises in this, and contacted them.

[@Jim1255783]

@@allangibson8494 Yes.

[@maifantasia3650]

The communications system on the new yacht relied on carrier bats and, for some unknown reason, there is currently a shortage of bats which has resulted in a communications blackout. "Captain, Tahiti looks nice this time of year. Please plot a course and set sail to Tahiti. Or, any tropical location that doesn't bother with those pesky extradition laws."

[@pevebe]

probably on heroin in some back alley in bristol

[@DarkSitesChannel]

I'd bet my savings local charities, sports clubs, parish councils and events got told 'We've got no money to spend on stupid projects' during the same period.

[@T.L.B.115]

You are correct..

[@bengoacher4455]

Why would you need to refurbish the changing facilities at the sports ground hosting the local rugby, football, cricket and athletics clubs when you could spend the money on some telegraph poles and string that do absolutely fuck all for anyone?

[@6ettinold]

Where I live, it's community projects ensuring pensioners get a hot meal and a chance to socialise to help fight loneliness, boxing and martial arts clubs to keep teenagers in the deprived areas out of trouble & away from drug dealers, and homelessness charities and shelters that have seen their funding removed.

[@planescaped]

@@bengoacher4455 Well my buddy has a string company he just started last week and they said they could do it for about 5000 pounds in materials, and 345,000 in labor.

[@Del_S]

It's not like councils keep going bankrupt or anything, just keep wasting money on placebos....

[@mrbluesky2050]

placebos ? what ? the opera singer...? gonna need a f*****g bigger bridge...

[@sourscream2587]

placebos at least work, this is worse than placebos

[@Del_S]

@@sourscream2587 In a way, this did work. The Council pretends they Did Something™

[@chilversc]

As a placebo it does work. Without this the council would have needed to spend a lot more money doing something effective like rehoming the bats. This gives the council a certificate to say they upheld their regulatory duty to protect the bats. When it doesn't work that's then the problem of the people that sold the bat bridge, but you'd first have to prove it didn't work, likely in a court of law.

[@balaclavabob001]

Placebo ... that's one of them outside swimming pools isn't it ?

[@dangerousandy]

What a batshit crazy idea

[@paulmatthews5470]

WEHAY!

[@JohnStokes-c1o]

Went looking for this comment was not disappointed. Well done. 😁

[@eddjordan2399]

"of coarse they f*ckng don't" Made me my tea come out my nose.

[@SmallSpoonBrigade]

It's not at all surprising, the bridges that have been constructed for animals, the bridges that are actually used, are for animals that walk on the ground. You could probably extend that a bit to fish ladders, but again, fish don't generally fly, especially the ones for whom we've built fish ladders. Bats though, do fly and it seems to me that they would have been better off building one stretch that was much wider and seeing if that worked before building more because even if they do see this particular bridge, they're probably not going to actually make anything of it.

[@johnredman4568]

Bats are everywhere, therefore every road should have bat bridges, said a spokesman for the bat bridge construcion company.

[@leecromer3289]

The very RICH spokesman for the bat bridge construction company from his ten bedroom Villa in the Maldives…🙄🙄🙄

[@Senthiuz]

"Of course you haven't seen them, bats only come out at night, trust me there's loads of em. And if you don't buy my bat bridges it's basically the same as if you strangled them yourself."

[@Unethical.Dodgson]

"Bats are everywhere" They kind of aren't... that's why we're doing shit like making Bat Bridges. Because they're NOT everywhere, anymore.

[@williamfence566]

" Right ! to the bat cave " . "Can't I'm afraid there's no bridge" . Said no one.

[@trisparker149]

2:10 - "If you were a bat, this is sub-optimal" 😂😂😂

[@john1703]

If you were once a bat, and you met Dave in his truck, nothing matters anymore.

[@Zoey--]

Its corruption. Everyone knows two sticks and a net across a road won't do anything but they get to line their pockets with £350,000 for barely any work.

[@ShadowEclipse777]

This, they are 100% embezzling most of the funds lmao

[@sandwich2473]

350k for 6 bridges but a million for 7? This is absolutely the case

[@stefanf2740]

I know it's convenient to have a nice neat reason when stuff doesn't work out, but in reality this is just a result of how councils are structured and funded, our planning system, and government rules. At best you can conclude the council is incompetent for not sense checking the designs. It's the engineering and ecological consultants and contractors who pocketed the largest margin on this, and they're the ones who need to make sure the solution actually works before flogging it. Of course holding them to account would require a ton of upfront legal work which, you guessed it, the council isn't funded for. Every time someone mentions the word tax rise, council or central, people are outraged. Well if you don't fund your government for what you expect of them, then the outputs are going to be shit, demonstrated here.

[@monkemode8128]

@@stefanf2740 Look at a breakdown of where your taxes go online. Besides, this shows very bad management. Would it really have been that much more expensive to build one bridge and test the results before going onto build others? Then, when experts weighed in and said it didn't work, another town does the same thing and spends more than double per installation? I think that local governments should try new and innovative solutions which can do the same job for less money, but if they are untested implement them in a more limited capacity and pay attention to the results.

[@mikkelbreiler8916]

@@sandwich2473 Yeah, who knew these 6 turned out to be the most economic version.

[@DukeofEarl1961]

I understand all the potholes now - Councils provide them for newts and frogs to cross the roads safely!!

[@mattbosley3531]

In the U.S. they provide wildlife tunnels or crossings in various locations for animals that can't fly to safely cross the road, including newts and frogs.

[@ferrumignis]

​@@mattbosley3531We do have them in the UK as well.

[@williamstrachan]

​@@mattbosley3531the highways in LA have caused the mountain lions there to suffer from inbreeding defects as the colonies are cut off from each other. There's a bridge being built at a cost of $92 million to allow wildlife to cross the 101, they had about 3 weeks of road closures in April/May to fit a large bit of the structure. Hopefully it works better than these white elephants on a major trunk.

[@AndyHullMcPenguin]

On the plus side, they do deter elephants. Not a single incidence of elephant incursion on to the carriageway has ever been reported in the vicinity of any of these structures.

[@BittermanAndy]

Great success!

[@sameyers2670]

I heard they also deter giraffes as well

[@michaelwoffindin]

I've passed these a few times and always thought they were for forestry services to access both sides of the road. A bridge for bats sounds as dumb as trying to build a water fountain for fish. Hilarious that Norfolk council saw Suffolk council piss 350k up the wall on 6 bat brides and thought "we can top that" and blew a million on 7. Is the 7th one made of gold or what? Smells of entirely of embezzlement to me. Local councils being corrupt and incompetent? I'm shocked. Shocked, I tell you.

[@stevekelly5166]

Water fountains for fish and bat brides. You could be on to something.

[@jasonali4122]

@@stevekelly5166 The fountains-for-fishes idea has much merit as it would oxygenate the water in the pools. Well done.

[@thaifoodtakeaway]

yes, but when you mention social care there is no money to be found.

[@stevekelly5166]

@@thaifoodtakeaway Care Money! What's that got to the price of bats you cook and serve up as tofu? I'd borrow Dave's truck and chase you at 8mph until... I'#d serve you up as a big chicken licker stew with noodles.

[@stevekelly5166]

@@thaifoodtakeaway Are you for real?

[@DavidShepheard]

The underpass sounds like a good idea. As well as bats, it could be used by various animals.

[@travcollier]

Wildlife overpasses are more common I think. But yeah... If we're going to be fragmenting habitats with roads, seems like a reasonable thing to include.

[@Pesmog]

There is an underpass on that new stretch of the A11 at the war memorial. I presume the bats use it as its big enough to drive a vehicle through but is mainly used by walkers visiting the monument.

[@SeranaTheStudent]

An underpass sounds much more nature friendly than string and wire

[@KevinSmithGeo]

@@travcollier I think he meant underpass in that the road would go through a short tunnel under a section of reasonably intact forest, not that they would make tunnels for the bats to go under the road.

[@canoli-goso-fast]

Did ya'll vote for biden too?

[@namenamename390]

2:13 just as a side note, bats are not blind. They have eyes, and these eyes are functional (albeit not nearly as advanced as human eyes). Their sonar sense is an additional tool they have to observe the world, it doesn't replace their sight.

[@thebrowns5337]

So they have working eyes and sknar yet one almost entered my mouth in a tunnel, despite seeing me coming the other way. Cheeky...

[@dougaltolan3017]

​@thebrowns5337 ??? Really? You want to publish that here? Ohh well, you asked for it.. Big mouth? Dental hygiene "issues"?

[@badwolf7777]

​@@thebrowns5337apparently you looked hungry

[@hughdanaher2758]

Human eyes aren’t as advanced as squid eyes where the blood vessels are behind the retina

[@Person01234]

Their eyesight is "fine", but they're navigating often in pitch darkness, in many cases bats hunt little insects in such conditions, sight isn't the main sense they use because it's unreliable in that regard not because they have "bad eyesight".

[@smorris12]

At this point one wonders if all UK councils aren't secretly run by Riddler, Joker and Penguin...

[@stevemorrisby6705]

They are, and helped out by Larry, Curly and Mo.

[@LukaszHost76]

@@stevemorrisby6705 No, that's too many braincells for the average UK council, tone it down a notch.

[@tightcamper]

​@@LukaszHost76 Ha ha

[@grahamleiper1538]

We call them the clowncil up here.

[@Nik-8it5p]

They are , it's called the Labour Party!! 😂😂😂

[@swskating3865]

If the bats are still there, why not tree line the centre of the carriageway?, surely one side of the dual carriageway width is equivalent to the old single carriageway road

[@badwolf7777]

You and your thinking

[@phoenixfridge1495]

Too simple

[@rodgermoss8975]

That would make it too dangerous for the drunken drivers.

[@jonathandenton6160]

​@@rodgermoss8975 Put cable barriers along the sides. The drivers win, the bats win, everyone wins.

[@Mark-gt5uu]

Local councils in the UK hate trees. Notice how they never plant them, but are always quick to chop them down?

[@robg521]

£60,000 for each set 😲😳, I work for the electric board and install over line poles and wires just like this everyday of the week, We could have built all 6 bridges for less than it cost them to do just the one.

[@aleks5405]

Call it environmental work and you're free to grift and extort.

[@Unethical.Dodgson]

Would you like to provide an actual invoice and not just "trust me, bro"?

[@leekelly9639]

I live in West Suffolk, yes we have Bat Bridges, we also have ponds in the roads commonly known as “potholes”

[@boiledelephant]

that's really good for amphibians and waterfowl, having lots of small ponds! Bravo local council for putting nature first

[@MatthewExplores]

it truly is a scandal how much money is wasted by councils

[@badwolf7777]

Yes, but is it a surprise? 😂 If it is, you've clearly never worked in one...

[@ShadowEclipse777]

Wasted? More like embezzled

[@witchitahable]

The alternative is probably not building the road at all which has colossal costs in lost opportunity cost and legal challenges. Look at the ndr. Infrastructure upgrades are needed and if it takes 350k to put in some useless structure so they can actually build it that's a lot cheaper than years of dealing with infrastructure that's not fit for purpose, worn out and needing ever increasing maintenance and legal battles.

[@Rorschach.]

It has to be acknowledged that the Bat Bridges in Brockway, Ogdenville, and North Haverbrook are all working just fine.

[@Jehty_]

What's different about them?

[@kgbgb3663]

@@Jehty_ If I remember correctly, they go _under_ the monorails, instead of over them, so they act like tunnels. And bats like tunnels. (It's a Simpson's reference -- those are the towns that wasted millions upon millions of dollars on pointless monorail systems, but the "entrepreneur" trying to sell the same system to Springfield said they were working just fine.)

[@robertturner4955]

Bat bridges are more of a Shelbyville thing.

[@Jehty_]

@@kgbgb3663 ah, thank you. Been a while since I watched Simpsons 😩

[@thedolphin5428]

... says the bat bridge designer from his new yacht.

[@johnweighell7725]

We have some in Cornwall at Dobwalls they cost nearly one million and the study to prove they worked cost half a million and showed that they didn’t work

[@stevee5]

Fun fact , bats aren't blind and can actually see quite well at nite , not so good in daylight tho

[@jester5ify]

Whate's nite?

[@IceColdGeico]

@@jester5ify What's whate?

[@jester5ify]

@@IceColdGeico Whate? Say's it all..

[@jimmydesouza4375]

@@jester5ify A vocabumalary masterclass here.

[@jester5ify]

@@jimmydesouza4375 Yeh, you said it lol

[@robertelkins5928]

Its funny because there's been one of these "bat bridges" on the A497 since 2006 and they discovered that it didn't work pretty much immediately after the road was reopened. Almost 20 years later and councils are still wasting obscene amounts of our money on these things.

[@thebrowns5337]

They're too scared of not building more and more lanes for cars and feels they need to at least be seen to do something for the environment.

[@Welgeldiguniekalias]

At least local tax payers can take solace in the fact they don't work in France, the Netherlands and Poland, either. After all, why bother learning from someone else's mistake if you can also burn a couple 100k in public funds?

[@LukaszHost76]

Indeed

[@doublelapislazer]

Even better then Norwich north bypass which is only a few years old has these too. Hmm

[@simontay4851]

thAn

[@doublelapislazer]

@@simontay4851 gey

[@clickrick]

Proof of the old adage that it's good to learn from your mistakes, but cheaper to learn from someone else's.

[@DaPanda1980]

in the Netherlands we have squirrel bridges, wich get used about once a year (webcam data confirms it). Those bridges cost about £ 120,000.00 a piece and there are 5 of them.

[@Izithel]

This reminds me of Squirrel bridge build over a road in by the municipality in The Hague for like €144.000,- in 2012. By 2014 only 3 or so squirrels had been confirmed to have actually used it. Although at least unlike the bat bridges it did eventually start getting used by squirrles, but for almost a decade it was a running joke about wasteful spending. Edit: oh that ending theme, well done.

[@stevekelly5166]

Did they interrogate all of the squirrels? DID YOU USE THE BRIDGE? And three squirrels admited it. The rest replied, no comment.

[@keithfinn1011]

These bridges were originally built for squirrels, but re-badged when an Environmentalist noticed bats flying near one of them. It was nothing to do with the two large lighting columns attracting moths and midges.... and therefore bats.

[@ChrisWijtmans]

@@keithfinn1011 but bats are flying squirrels?

[@jayspeidell]

A proper wildlife bridge is more expensive, and the municipality only cares about making it look like they give a fuck. Pretending to give a fuck is much cheaper than actually giving a fuck.

[@n0f8r]

I drive under these every day and just could not figure them out - the reveal is like a bad movie plot twist - utterly random and impossible to guess.

[@macf4426]

Even the councils know the bats wouldn't cross over them. If the councils thought for one minute that anything would cross there (bats or otherwise), they would have installed tolls on the bridge.

[@BillDavies-ej6ye]

That's a bit batty.

[@Cainite]

One really needs a special kind of people to come up with something like this. People that drive on the wrong side of the road for example.

[@headstanding_Penguin]

Easy solution to fix them: Ivy Grow Ivy across those bridges -> you get a plant which is one of the best carbon filtering plant, a cover over the road and maybe even bats not dropping down...

[@boiledelephant]

unfortunately any creeper will drop runners down into the traffic profile, so it's a no-go for highway safety

[@boiledelephant]

also it still wouldn't help the bats, sadly

[@fingermau5_]

These bats clearly need wings that are like Shields of Steel!

[@MultiVogon]

"Your 40 ton truck cannot harm me! My wings are like a..." SPLAT

[@dazdaz105]

Nice Batfink reference. 👍 Why has no one else spotted that.🤷🏻

[@davem9204]

Don't dis my fully-laden truck!

[@markoarkaina8656]

What if it's only partially laden?

[@benpc1794]

​@@markoarkaina8656if its only partially-laden, Dave forgot to close the curtains properly before leaving the yard...

[@davem9204]

@@benpc1794 If I close the curtains on one side I can scoop up all the passing bats.

[@benpc1794]

@@davem9204 damn fine work sir! That's a £350,000 kind of idea right there!

[@LeighPankhurst]

You should put a sticker on it that says "Sub-optimal for bats"

[@Freelancer221]

I mean... I'm kinda surprised that it's only 350,0... what?! one million?! That's just crazy

[@badwolf7777]

Yeah that 7th one was expensive lol

[@WatchingtheWorldBurning]

I'm a property developer. Back in the day, I applied for planning permission to redevelop an old estate pub into 12 houses. I had to spend £13,500 on bat and badger reports. The reports all came back saying that there were no bats in the vicinity. After 2 years, I got planning permission, subject to 23 conditions, of which 8 related to the protection of bats and badgers that I had spent £13,500 on reports to prove that they did not exist. I bladdy love planners.

[@Dan23_7]

My wife cleans new builds on sites, a few years ago she was on a site where an old structure needed to go to make way for a house or 3. Nope, couldn’t touch it…. Bloody bats inside it 😂

[@artemkatelnytskyi]

And this is why property is so expensive in most of developed world.

[@MJ-iv1es]

Wanted a Velux window in the roof. Had to spend £3500 on surveys to show whether a £35 provision for bats was required, which I would have been happy to include whether they were needed or not. Batsh*t Bonkers....😢

[@Skorpychan]

An absentee landlord, you say?

[@daviddogsbody]

I wanted to build a deck at the back of my house. Needed planning permission as it was more than a foot above ground level. Can’t have any lights on the steps without an environmental impact report to confirm it will not affect foraging animals and you guessed it bats. So no discrete led lights on the steps. Fuck it I’ll flood light the whole garden

[@alex_zetsu]

If you ever looked at a bat it should be obvious that they are not blind because they look back at you with their eyes which they use to see things. it is true that they use sonar a lot even on a full moon and when it's not a full moon they can't see much, but that's just because it is really dark. I'm curious as to why the underpasses work better than bat bridges. For that matter, if the theory is that the bat bridge can be sensed by sonar, wouldn't a pedestrian bridge also be sensed by sonar? Might as well turn that £350,000 project that doesn't work into a £1,050,000 one that people can walk accross.

[@BB-sm8ey]

It's not about the 350k being expensive, it's about 350k being a super cheap way to deliberately avoid their legal ecological responsibilities.

[@wolfiecrawlsrc58]

Just one point of fact. Bats are not blind their vision is relatively good. So good infact that they see these structures as a waste of resources and money.

[@MT-bb7bw]

Go to Talgarth in mid Wales and you will find a doormouse bridge on the bypass. I kid you not!

[@Lorentari]

They should clearly have spent the £350,000 on evening schools for politicians

[@rayhitchman4741]

How does a bat press the button specifically for liking this video ?

[@BV-co7hy]

Double click😊

[@alanpritchard5709]

Like this...*click*

[@frankupton5821]

The same way they press the buttons on the special bat crossings they have installed on roads in my town.

[@2760ade]

@@frankupton5821 Do they have to wait for the red bat to change to a green bat before crossing?

[@ZetorRG]

I have wondered for years what these were!! The best I could come up with was so squirrels could climb across the road like little commandos!! Thank you so much for this video

[@sdwelham]

Well some specialist told them that was the way forward, but whatever, £350,000 to keep the environmentalist off your back would be considered reasonable.

[@kielba5a]

At the Goodwood motor racing circuit there’s an underpass going under the main straight. Bats used them to travel, and sometimes to sleep. You frequently saw them as you walked through. Worried about the noise and maybe people disturbing sleeping bats as they walk past, they installed privacy boxes to dull the noise and partially shield them from the public. Have never seen a bat in there ever since.

[@opless]

I've always wondered what they were. Thanks!

[@Booka3141]

The thing that always gets me isn't the daft ideas and waste of public money, its the fact that someone in government agreed that £58k was a reasonable price for them, then some other pleb thought £140k was equally acceptable!!!

[@SteveMonk1956]

What a total waste of time and money, councillors are batty!

[@MrFordAddict]

Bat's are not blind. They can see in daylight but at night it's too dark so that's why they have echo location.

[@TheFunkadelicFan]

This is batshit crazy!

[@jaymitchell9694]

I drive past these quite often and wondered what these actually were! Another excellent video Jon!

[@jimmydesouza4375]

Let's be real here, the entire reason these were constructed was so someone in the council could funnel money to their buddies. That being said, why did they cut down so many trees if they were worried this would happen, they cut down more than was needed to build the road.

[@kyleoates6367]

Free ways require certain amounts of line of sight on either side of the road in case of deer or other animals crossing so drivers, if they're actually paying attention, have a few fractions of a second to several seconds of more time to react, which can be a big difference. This, again, requires attentive drivers though.

[@jimmydesouza4375]

@@kyleoates6367 They might in the US, but in the UK they don't. They can be built right up to woods/forests/cattlefields/cliffs etc. in the UK. Some times there's some kind of barrier such as a wall put in place to prevent things coming on to the roadway, but that isn't always the case.

[@flipper2392]

There was a similar farce when Catthorpe interchange was rebuilt, newt traps had to be installed which cost several thousand £ per newt saved.

[@rozeeboy74]

Been along there many times and wondered WTF these are - and now I know.

[@TomRankin138]

Same scenario here. I had wondered what they were and saw this video. Almost a relief that I now know

[@timburton5280]

I drove under the ones in Norfolk 2 days ago and couldn't work out what they were for, so thanks Jon for explaining their function. A bridge for a bat didn't even cross my mind.

[@SoupMagoosh]

The government absolutely love bats, makes me think they might be all vampires

[@keithfinn1011]

I wouldn't say the people in Norfolk are backward, but in the latest election they voted Dracula in... for the Liberals. Boom Boom.

[@heatherjones6647]

Bats aren't blind. They see perfectly well and echolocation is just a fine-tuned hunting and communication tool.

[@nickbeer2658]

Absolutely superb!

[@marcwaller3657]

I've been driving under them for years wondering what they were. I'd assumed they were for some kind of cable. You don't get much of a look as you pass underneath! Thanks for another interesting video.

[@Diptera_Larvae]

Studies have shown that Canada wildlife crossing are pretty effective, as they blend more into the environment than this type does, they are also more expensive than this type.

[@mrikoantal]

Even if they're more expensive, better to spend a million quid building a handful of things that actually do help wildlife than a million quid achieving nothing

[@blackrabbit212]

@@mrikoantal Unless you are on the council and some of the million quid ends up in your pocket.

[@JonnyCasey]

I love you man

[@antonycharnock2993]

No bats were harmed in the making of this video.

[@fingermau5_]

No bats were available to comment on these claims

[@andyp7449]

Aside from the bat sh*t crazy on the local council.

[@SlimHandle]

Seems like they were already harmed before the making of this video and thus could no longer comment on the proposals.

[@charlesmoss8119]

Brilliant episode - I’ve always been worried that I subscribe to a channel about roads - but an episode like this means I could almost explain it to my partner…

[@Captain.Scarlet]

I like the ending :D but now I want to watch Batman Returns

[@hexsymbol2229]

Ive often been using that stretch of a11 and wondered what wildlife was meant to use the wire bridges. Thanks for clearing up that none do

[@UK.RoadsCyclingandTransport]

Always wondered how those things work, fantastic (if they worked)

[@DrewSpencer]

Very interesting! I've driven down that road a number of times and previously thought they were for squirrels or something like that. That was until I realised the ramp up the side isn't actually connected to the bridge part at the top, which left me totally baffled. Thanks for explaining.

[@spenstrangward5126]

Theres one up on the A590 in the lake district

[@alantheskinhead]

When I was driving to Watton from London at the time to see my parents and did the M11/A11 every Wednesday night I watched that road being built over the months. The old road was crap as it single laned and the traffic lights at Elveden junction caused massive jams with holiday makers. When they built the new road they cut down huge swathes of trees so it was going to be a no brainer that wildlife was going to suffer. Not only the bats but the A11 was always covered in road kill! Me and my dad counted 6 badgers, 8 hares/rabbits, 1 sheep, 3 muntjacks (look like big rabbits on acid, at the time unique to The Brecks) between the Thetford turn and Barton Mills. If you wanted to see bats you would go up to the Elveden War Memorial where at dusk you can still see bats whizzing around blissfully unaware of all the hundreds of caravans annoying the locals. It's also a good dogging spot! I suspect the bats and other things including humans are more likely to be picked off at the nearby Thetford Range army training ground. I suspect that what has happened is, the bats have decided not to bother crossing the road and just stay in there local bits or just pop down to Barton Mills for a quick snack. Now there is a new episode of AS... The old A11......

[@davem9204]

"A single dual-carriageway road" at 1:00? I think the "dual" is more redundant than these bridges!

[@WeekendWarrior-Official]

A dual carriageway can have any number of lanes - it just means that there is a separation between the driving lanes in each direction. It could have one lane each side, two of them or many more - as is the case of motorways.

[@amateurcrastinator9523]

This right here is why I don't understand people who put their faith in government officials to solve ANY problems. Here in the U.S., a few years ago, there was a story about a city government that spent something like $2.5 million building a bathroom at a park.

[@mikecooper5544]

look look, the king is naked!

[@itstaegantime6330]

4:25 exactly what I was thinking from the start. It's all very well and good trying to minimise the impact that a dual carriageway would cause to the local wildlife, but anyone with a grain of common sense would be able to tell you that if you dig it all up for two and a bit years with blind bats not able to cross the construction area, of course they're going to move on elsewhere, they aren't just going to wait patiently for you to finish. Why did it even cost so much? Where is all this money going? Seems like if you were going to do these things, then make them much wider than a footbridge and get some ivy-like things on the go to bridge the gap giving it a tree like texture, or just build something equivalent. Send someone out with a cherry picker overnight every few weeks to keep it on track until it's bridged, then forget about it except for structural surveys.

[@adamhousden6349]

Council tax money not well spent, what they could have done was spend it in pothole repairs......😂😂😂

[@thebrowns5337]

Agree not well spent but I doubt it was council tax money. Would come out of the roads pot most likely which is funded by government. Councils incomings and outgoings are very odd with many tightly 'ring fenced'. Never know, it may even have been section 106 money if they could stick some road traffic on a local development.

[@2760ade]

How would that help the bats though?🤣

[@craigmorgan8869]

Drove under these today & thought to my self “I wonder what these are” Now I have my answer, thanks Jon

[@TheLambLive]

When these huge cost projects deliver apparently appaling value for money, it is, in this case, the literal batsignal for corruption.. We're really suffering from this in Wales at the moment. Those present within government are stealing our money. "The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command." - George Orwell, 1984.

[@D.S.handle]

But what value would you expect here to see? I can understand how something giving low returns on investment can hint at an indication of graft, but since here most of the value is environmental, the returns is just the effectiveness of the construction. If the bat bridges would indeed work, this would not tell us anything about whether some money for the construction had been appropriated.

[@johnadams392]

The A11 Elveden bypass was built by the DFT...also I first saw bat bridges in Cumbria on the road to Barrow from Kendal. The Norwich NDR has a tunnel at Rackheath but not sure it was designed bats.

[@squoblat]

They should have just given the bats bigger ears.

[@jonathonbrett-qn1ic]

Absolutely brilliant Jon Thank you for your fantastic series

[@joeculyer8100]

Always wondered what these useless things were for. 😂

[@jim-bob-outdoors]

So glad you made this video. I have travelled that route a few times and always wondered what they are. 👍👍

[@davefrench3608]

Waste, incompetence and stupidity The three things councils actually are good at.

[@hujiproductions8457]

Chance would have it we drove past/under these a couple of weeks ago and thought WTF are those they look like they do nothing. Jon, thanks for explaining that they do exactly that and the reasons behind them 🙂

[@psychodad1961]

Have you had a good week?

[@avinabacca]

He doesn’t ask any more. He doesn’t care 😢

[@captainsmith3972]

Informative video. I have driven on that outer Norwich ring road many times wondering what wildlife those bridges are intended for and how said wildlife would know to use them. Would never have guessed bats!

[@sebbeforsberg1600]

na na na nah nah nah nahhhh B.....

[@rochellehewston9367]

Brilliant sarcasm John you were on form in this one I enjoyed the entertainment, thank you

[@WagnerGimenes]

I drive to Norwich quite regularly and always wondered why they didn't burry those electrical cables instead of those pylons. Never occurred to me that they were bat guides. Good work there, Jon.

[@sangetube]

Subbed! Great video 👍 Informative, succinct and entertaining.

[@petrolhead28]

The reason bat bridges were copied even though they didn't work is the same logic that has resulted in the rise of the giant SUV

[@TheDangoNinja]

I've just come across this channel, thank you YT algorythem despite I searched nothing related to roads or bats. Watched out of curiosity, stayed for the comedy. That was golden.

[@nvelsen1975]

I think you may be missing the deeper idea here: If you take no measure, extremist luddites will go to court, get some leftwing judge to shoot down the necessary road expansion and you're stuck with a narrow dangerous road and unimportant stuff like oh I dunno, people dying during miscalculated overtakes. If you do this, you beat their sabotage case because look at these shiny new bat-bridges. You build the necessary road, everybody's happy and the ecology will adjust to the new situation no problems. And at just 350K that's a bargain as far as pricetags for defeating 'environmentalist' luddites go: They've been known to burn through billions. In one of my projects we're spending € 1200000 taxpayer money on a wooden bridge for 1 hypothetical badger that may or may not exist in the area. But it was that or they'd get an activist judge to crush our entire permit. The expansion of the Rotterdam port took a literal cartload full of paperwork to beat the luddites (I don't exagerate here, merely the first chapter is 5000+ pages), the commissioning of which cost well over € 7 million.

[@chriswarrington1034]

Excellent video. Well researched, well presented. Well done!

[@murphychris9811]

LOL

[@Elrikkardo]

Have a few of these near me in Mid Wales and instantly thought they looked useless. I'm glad i've finally been vindicated

[@adamjolley8552]

I like this video so I’ve pressed the button specifically for that 👉🏻

[@RobinRense]

They built a similar bridge in The Hague, the Netherlands, for squirrels. It wasn't used for years, having cost €150.000. Suddenly, after 10 years, they did start using the bridge. Haven't seen any bats on them though.

[@johnmorrison9424]

And another £500,000,000,00 Tory Batshit crazy idea was flights to Rwanda (and not one ever left ) talk about waste makes you Bat Bridges look real cheap by comparison 🤔🤔

[@Toastybear1]

I’m sure it will delight you to hear that these things exist all over the country. Cornwall council have several on the a38 and a30