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 U.S. Department of Transportation.
The federal allocations from the USDOT’s Wildlife Crossings Pilot Program that were awarded Dec. 20 are being widely hailed by government officials as well as wildlife advocates.
“Too many Americans are injured or killed each year in crashes involving cars and wildlife, especially in rural areas—which is why our Department created the first-ever program dedicated to crossings that make roads and highways safer for both humans and wildlife,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced in a press release about the grants. “With funding made possible by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the projects moving forward in 16 states will reduce collisions between drivers and wildlife, create places for wildlife to safely move over 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 roadways.
According to the Federal Highway Administration, which manages the Wildlife Crossings program, large animal crashes with vehicles are tied to the deaths of over 200 people and 26,000 injured drivers each year. The annual financial impact is estimated to be over $10 billion in economic costs that include medical bills, property damages and lost income.
FHWA estimates that annual costs associated with large animals in wildlife collisions amount regionally to:
· Northeast—70,000 animal vehicle crashes ($1.6 billion)
· Southeast—93,000 animal vehicle crashes ($3.5 billion)
· Midwest—162,000 animal vehicle crashes ($3.8 billion)
· West—26,000 animal vehicle crashes ($1.2 billion)
“Michigan had the greatest number of reported animal-vehicle crashes, with an average of over 54,000 each year. The state with the greatest number of reported human fatal animal crashes was Texas, with over 30 human fatal animal crashes each year. Michigan had the second highest number of fatal animal crashes reported with an average of 18 yearly,” FHWA says.
The cost of these vehicle collisions to wildlife is mainly calculated in the number of carcasses found from accidents and diminishing animal populations. As more wildlife species are killed due to roadway traffic, animals can be moved onto or kept on endangered species lists for protection.
Today, more attention is being placed on how to better safeguard the traveling public and wildlife.
Awareness is growing about how highways can be harmful to animals by forcing them to cross over congested roadways in migrations or normal movements. Also roadways block animal populations that are forced to survive within a patchwork of habitats.
“Safety is FHWA’s top priority, and these roadway safety investments will ensure that motorists and wildlife get to their destinations safely while advancing a safe, efficient transportation system that benefits all road users as well as the environment,” said Acting Federal Highway Deputy Administrator Gloria Shepherd commented in a statement about the new grants 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 lower wildlife vehicle collisions, connect habitats and help species survive.
Winning projects are meant to pay to help build wildlife crossings over and below roadways, install fences to guide animals to safe crossings and track the effectiveness of new wildlife passageways.
Florida Panthers
Florida’s Department of Transportation will receive a $6.1 million grant for its U.S. Highway 27-Venus Wildlife Crossing in Highlands County. The plan is to enhance a section of U.S. 27 near Venus by raising the road for a new wildlife crossing underpass.
The wildlife underpass, with two miles of guide fencing, is expected to lower vehicle crashes with endangered Florida panthers, white-tailed deer, black bears, American alligators and small creatures.
The area is also an important habitat for scrub jays, wading birds, burrowing owls, raccoons, opossums, rabbits and gopher tortoises.
This site is part of a key hot spot for crashes with traveling black bears and Florida panthers.
“Panthers need a lot of space. Males claim 200-square-mile territories and will sometimes fight other males to death if their territories overlap. As their numbers rise, urban sprawl hems them in. Development, associated with an estimated 1,000 people moving to Florida every day, consumes and fragments panther habitat in southwestern Florida,” noted a U.S. Fish and Wildlife assessment in 2022 of Florida’s panthers.
Mia McCormick, an advocate from Environment Florida, issued a statement expressing gratitude for the USDOT wildlife crossing grant to Florida.
“It’s been a rough year for the Florida panther, with 32 deaths thus far. We have to do better by this magnificent creature, and wildlife crossings are a proven way to do that,” McCormick stated. “Time and again, we’ve heard and read about cars driving along US-27 running panthers over. It’s not the fault of the driver and it’s surely not the fault of the big cats. We’ve been advocating that wildlife crossings are the best solution for Florida—and now it’s clear that the federal and state departments of transportation agree.”
Maine Moose
Some $9.3 million will be used by the Maine Department of Transportation on its Caribou Wildlife and Aquatic Habitat Crossings Project. The state intends to build a wildlife crossing with a pre-cast concrete arch culvert so moose, deer and other large animals can move better around the city of Caribou.
In the area of the future wildlife crossing, there have been 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 moose and deer crossings are about 164 per year on the main roadway from the town into rural Caribou.
The new crossing will lower the likelihood for such collisions with large animals, remove two existing barriers for wildlife and fish passage and provide a better connected habitat for land and water creatures.
The project will connect three undeveloped habitat blocks, eliminate two identified fish passage barriers and allow deer and moose to travel under the road away from cars.
To support the value of providing a safer crossing, transportation planners examined the frequency of GPS-collared adult female deer that frequently travel in the project area, as shown in the yellow lines in the graphic.
North Carolina Red Wolf
A vital project to help save disappearing red wolves in North Carolina will receive a USDOT grant for $25 million. The North Carolina Department of Transportation plans to use the federal funds for the U.S. Route 64 Red Wolf Crossings Project. It will involve installing multiple wildlife underpasses and fencing along U.S. 64 within the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge in Dare County.
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 white-tailed deer.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is tracking the endangered red wolves. Its population estimate as of September 2024 listed only from 17 to 19 wild red wolves and 290 living in captivity. Despite once roaming from Texas to New York, the red wolves now are only found in eastern North Carolina.
“Only 17-19 Red Wolves are left in the wild, making the animals one of the most critically endangered species in the world. Six Red Wolves have been killed on U.S. 64 from vehicle strikes in the past five years. Most recently, in June 2024 a breeding male Red Wolf was killed on the highway, a loss which then led to the deaths of his five young pups,” the Defenders of Wildlife noted in a Dec. 20 statement applauded the grant.
Red wolves were among the first endangered species that the Fish and Wildlife Service wanted to help recover following the December 1973 passage of the Endangered Species Act. A main way to stop the animals from disappearing has been to reintroduce the wolves at the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge on Albemarle Peninsula.
In December 2023, the Fish and Wildlife Service issued a 2023-2024 release strategy for red wolves focusing on seeking opportunities to foster wolf pups and trying to increase breeding pairs in the wild.
Ben Prater, Southeast program director for Defenders of Wildlife, noted in statement after the grants were announced: “We know the benefits wildlife corridors can provide to species traversing our state’s roadways, and perhaps none are in more need of safe passage than Red Wolves. In the face of environmental changes that are increasingly transforming and fragmenting the landscape, this funding comes at a critical time, when we have the opportunity to make our roadways safer for motorists and wildlife alike.”
A Better Future with Safe Roads, More Resilient Wildlife
The federal wildlife connectivity grants are gaining momentum as modern methods to make roadway travel safer and prevent vehicle collisions. At the same time, these investments will benefit the environment by helping ensure the survival of threatened wildlife species.
