Moose standing on highway.
Florida panthers, Maine moose, North Carolina red wolves and motorists in 16 states will benefit from $125 million in highway safety grants recently awarded by the US Department of Transportation.
The federal allocations from USDOT’s Wildlife Passage Pilot Program that were awarded on December 20 have been widely welcomed by government officials as well as wildlife advocates.
“Many Americans are injured or killed each year in accidents involving cars and wildlife, especially in rural areas — which is why our Department created the first program dedicated to crossings that make roads and highways safer for both people and also for wild animals”, USA. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced in a press release about the grants. “With funding made possible by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act, projects moving forward in 16 states will reduce collisions between drivers and wildlife, create places for wildlife to move safely on and under highways, and help preserve American life and property.”
More than 1 million vehicles collide with small and large wildlife each year on American roads.
According to the Federal Highway Administration, which manages the Wildlife Crossing program, large animal-vehicle collisions are linked to over 200 human deaths and 26,000 motorist injuries each year. The annual financial impact is estimated to be over $10 billion in economic costs that include medical bills, property damage, and lost income.
FHWA estimates that the annual costs associated with large animals in wildlife collisions are regionally at:
· Northeast – 70,000 vehicle-animal collisions ($1.6 billion)
· Southeast – 93,000 vehicle-animal collisions ($3.5 billion)
· Midwest – 162,000 vehicle-animal collisions ($3.8 billion)
· West – 26,000 vehicle-animal collisions ($1.2 billion)
“Michigan had the highest number of reported animal vehicle accidents, averaging over 54,000 each year. The state with the highest number of fatal animal accidents reported was Texas, with over 30 fatal human animal accidents each year. Michigan had the second highest number of fatal animal accidents reported with an average of 18 per year,” the FHWA says.
The cost of these vehicle collisions with wildlife is mainly calculated in the number of corpses found in the accidents and the reduction of animal populations. As more wildlife species are killed due to road traffic, various animals are also displaced or kept on endangered species lists for protection.
Today, more attention is being paid to how to better protect the traveling public and wildlife.
Awareness is growing of how highways can be harmful to animals by forcing them through congested roads on migrations or normal movements, as well as roads that block animal populations that are forced to survive within a patchwork of habitats. .
“Safety is FHWA’s top priority, and these investments in road safety will ensure that drivers and wildlife get to their destinations safely, while advancing a safe and efficient transportation system that benefits all road users as well as the environment ,” said Deputy Federal Administrator Gloria. Shepherd commented in a statement on the new grants for the 2024-2025 fiscal year.
Wildlife crossing pilot program grant elections for fiscal year 2024-2025.
The states receiving the latest wildlife crossing grants are: Alaska, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, North Carolina, New Mexico, Nevada, New York and Oregon .
The grants fund safety projects to reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions, connect habitats and help species survive.
Winning projects are intended to pay to help build wildlife crossings over and below roads, install fences to guide animals to safe crossings and track the effectiveness of new wildlife crossings.
Florida Panthers
The Florida Department of Transportation will receive a $6.1 million grant for the U.S. Highway 27-Venus Wildlife Crossing in Highlands County. The plan is to improve a section of US 27 near Venus to make way for a new wildlife underpass.
Panther walking through palmetto trees in Florida.
The wildlife underpass, with its two-mile guide fence, is expected to reduce vehicle collisions with endangered Florida panthers, white-tailed deer, black bears, American alligators and small critters.
The area is also an important habitat for woodpeckers, wild birds, burrowing owls, raccoons, opossums, rabbits and gopher tortoises.
This site is part of a major hotspot for encounters with traveling black bears and Florida panthers.
A panther from Florida tries to cross a busy highway.
“Panthers need a lot of space. Males claim territories of 200 square miles and will sometimes fight to the death with other males if their territories overlap. As their numbers grow, urban sprawl hinders them. Development, coupled with about 1,000 people moving into Florida each day, consumes and fragments panther habitat in southwest Florida,” noted a 2022 US Fish and Wildlife assessment of Florida panthers.
Mia McCormick, an attorney with Environment Florida, released a statement expressing gratitude for the USDOT grant for wildlife crossing in Florida.
“It’s been a tough year for the Florida panther, with 32 deaths so far. We need to do better by this magnificent creature, and wildlife crossings are a proven way to do that,” McCormick said. Time and time again, we’ve heard and read about cars driving along US-27 panthers. It’s not the driver’s fault, and it’s certainly not the big cats’ fault. We’ve been advocating that wildlife crossings are the best solution for Florida—and now it’s clear the federal and state departments of transportation agree.”
Maine Moose
Moose by the road.
About $9.3 million will be used by the Maine Department of Transportation on its Caribou Wildlife and Aquatic Habitat Crossing Project. The state intends to build a wildlife crossing with a precast concrete arch channel so moose, deer and other large animals can better move through Caribou City.
In the future wildlife crossing area, there were 127 reported wildlife vehicle collisions with moose and deer from 2003-2022 in a two-mile area. But that number, according to Maine Game Wardens, doesn’t provide an accurate picture. The number of deer and elk crossings is about 164 per year on the main road from town to rural Caribou.
The new crossing will reduce the likelihood of such collisions with large animals, remove two existing barriers to the passage of wildlife and fish, and provide a better connected habitat for land and water creatures.
The project will connect three blocks of undeveloped habitat, eliminate two identified barriers to fish passage and allow deer and moose to travel under roads away from cars.
To support the value of providing safer passage, transportation planners examined the frequency of GPS-collared adult female deer that frequently travel through the project area, as shown in the yellow lines on the graph.
Movements of GPS-collared adult female elk in the Maine wildlife crossing project area.
Red Wolf of North Carolina
A vital project to help save North Carolina’s endangered red wolves will receive a USDOT grant for $25 million. The North Carolina Department of Transportation plans to use federal funds for the US 64 Red Wolf Overpass Project. It will include the installation of multiple wildlife underpasses and fencing along US 64 within the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge in Dare County.
A portrait of a red wolf in Asheboro, NC, United States
The project will reduce wildlife vehicle collisions, support the Red Wolf Recovery Program, and increase habitat connectivity for wildlife within the refuge, including the endangered red wolf, black bear, and moose. white tail.
The US Fish and Wildlife Service is tracking endangered red wolves. Its population estimate as of September 2024 listed only 17 to 19 wild red wolves and 290 living in captivity. Despite once roaming from Texas to New York, red wolves are now found only in eastern North Carolina.
“Only 17-19 red wolves remain in the wild, making the animals one of the most critically endangered species in the world. Six red wolves have been killed in 64 US by vehicle attacks in the past five years. Most recently, in June 2024, an adult male Red Wolf was killed on the highway, a loss that subsequently led to the deaths of five of his young cubs,” Defenders of Wildlife noted in a Dec. 20 statement. applauding the grant.
Red wolves were among the first endangered species that the Fish and Wildlife Service wanted to help recover after the December 1973 passage of the Endangered Species Act. A key way to stop the animals from going extinct has been to reintroduce wolves to the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge on the Albemarle Peninsula.
In December 2023, the Fish and Wildlife Service issued a 2023-2024 release strategy for red wolves, focusing on finding opportunities to feed wolf pups and trying to increase breeding pairs in the wild.
Ben Prater, director of the Southeast program for Defenders of Wildlife, noted in a statement after the grants were announced: “We know the benefits that wildlife corridors can provide to the species that cross our state’s roads, and perhaps none need safe passage more than Red Wolves. In the face of environmental change that is increasingly transforming and fragmenting the landscape, this funding comes at a critical time when we have the opportunity to make our roads safer for drivers and wildlife alike.”
The deer walks along a highway.
A better future with safer roads, more resilient wildlife
Federal wildlife connectivity grants are gaining momentum as the modern way to make road travel safer for people by preventing vehicle accidents. At the same time, these investments will reap intangible benefits for society and nature by helping to ensure the survival of threatened wildlife species.