Crossing Over Danger

In the United States, there are more than one million car accidents per year that involve wild animals. 

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 types of crossings.

In Washington State, the I-90 highway cuts through Snoqualmie (snoh-KWAHL-mee) Pass. Wildlife live in the forest there. The state wanted to keep them off the road.

In 2009, the state began building bridges and tunnels along a 15-mile stretch of highway. Now deer, bobcat, black bear, and coyote use the crossings.

Patty Garvey-Darda is a wildlife biologist who works with the U.S. Forest Service. She helped plan the bridges and tunnels along I-90.

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!”

Patty Garvey-Darda is a wildlife biologist who works with the U.S. Forest Service. She helped plan the bridges and tunnels along I-90.

She says the crossings are already helping animals and humans. Before the crossings, there were many accidents involving animals. Many animals were killed. People also got badly hurt. And the crashes blocked highways. That meant trucks couldn’t make deliveries to stores. 

“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!”