Agoura Road full closure for wildlife crossing

A stretch of Agoura Road in Agoura Hills is now closed on weekdays through July 1 while crews build part of the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing. (dot.ca.gov) The closure covers Agoura Road between Rondell Street and Hydepark Drive from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, beginning Monday, April 20, 2026. Caltrans said no through traffic is allowed during work hours, including cars, bicycles and pedestrians. (dot.ca.gov) Drivers are being detoured to U.S. 101 between Chesebro Road and Liberty Canyon Road. Caltrans said pedestrians and cyclists can use a free shuttle running every 30 minutes between Dorothy Drive and Chesebro Road on one end and Liberty Canyon and Agoura Road on the other. (dot.ca.gov) The work this spring is for abutment walls, the reinforced end supports that hold up the crossing where it meets the ground. The road closure is part of the project’s second and final stage, after Caltrans announced in August 2025 that one-way controls would give way to a full closure for the final sections of construction. (dot.ca.gov, dot.ca.gov) The crossing sits at Liberty Canyon, where conservation agencies have long identified a narrow gap between protected habitat north and south of the freeway. The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy said a 1990 linkage study singled out this spot as the key connection between the Santa Monica Mountains and the Simi Hills. (smmc.ca.gov) The structure is meant to solve a freeway problem that biologists have tracked for years: animals can survive in the Santa Monica Mountains, but roads and development cut them off from other populations. The National Park Service said it has monitored more than 100 mountain lions in and around the range since 2002 and found that isolation has led to inbreeding and repeated road deaths. (nps.gov) National Park Service researchers said at least 32 mountain lions in their study area have been killed by vehicles since 2002. The agency calls the 101 Freeway the biggest barrier between the Santa Monica Mountains and other large natural areas. (nps.gov) Project backers say the bridge is being built for more than mountain lions. The 101 Wildlife Crossing project says the span is designed to reconnect habitat for species ranging from bobcats and deer to birds, bats and lizards across ten lanes of freeway and an access road. (101wildlifecrossing.org) Construction has moved from concrete and steel into habitat work. In April 2025, the governor’s office said crews began placing about 6,000 cubic yards of soil over nearly an acre of the bridge, with roughly 5,000 native plants scheduled to follow as part of a broader restoration plan. (gov.ca.gov) For Agoura Hills drivers, the immediate change is simpler than the engineering: weekday trips across that section of Agoura Road now require a freeway detour, and the local disruption is scheduled to last until Wednesday, July 1, 2026. (dot.ca.gov)