Subscriber Only Resources
Access this article and hundreds more like it with a subscription to Scholastic News magazine.
Washington Department of Transportation
Life Science
Crossing Over Danger
New pathways made just for wildlife are saving animals—and people—on highways!
As You Read: Identify the problem that Washington State is trying to solve.
Imagine this. A mountain lion races through the woods. It’s chasing a deer that it hopes will be its next meal. Suddenly, it skids to a stop. Its
A Safer Highway
Shutterstock.com
A red deer
In the United States, there are more than one million car accidents per year that involve wild animals. To help prevent these accidents, some communities are building wildlife crossings.
A wildlife crossing is anything that helps a wild animal safely cross a road. Bridges and tunnels are two popular types of crossings.
In Washington State, the I-90 highway cuts through Snoqualmie (snoh-KWAHL-mee) Pass. The state wanted to keep wildlife that live in the forest there off the road.
In 2009, it began building bridges and tunnels along a 15-mile stretch of highway. Now drivers may be lucky enough to spot a deer, bobcat, black bear, or coyote on an animal bridge!
Shutterstock.com
These bears in Canada don't have an animal crossing.
The Road Ahead
Patty Garvey-Darda is a wildlife
She says the crossings are already helping animals and humans. Before the crossings, there were many accidents involving animals that were killed. People also got badly hurt. And the crashes blocked highways, which meant trucks couldn’t make deliveries to stores.
But that’s all changed.
“In 2019, we put up fencing along the highway to guide the animals to use crossings,” Garvey-Darda says. “Since that time, not one large animal has been struck by a car!”
Courtesy of Conservation Northwest
These geese have a safe crossing in Washington State.
The I-90 crossings don’t just help big animals like elk and mountain lions. They also help smaller species like these three examples.
Pictured: Pine Marten (left), Harlequin duck (middle), pocket gopher (right)
Close-Reading Questions
1. Based on the article, what are some reasons a wild animal might try to cross a highway?
2. How did scientists in Washington State guide wildlife to use the animal crossings they built along the I-90 highway?
3. What is the purpose of the sidebar, “Keeping Critters Safe”?
