Below is a news release from the U.S. Department of Transportation.
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration announced $110 million in grants for 19 wildlife crossing projects in 17 states, including four Indian Tribes. The funding is made possible by a new program in President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) and can support projects that construct wildlife crossings over and below busy roads, add fencing, acquire tracking and mapping tools, and more. Overall, BIL makes a total of $350 million available over five years under the Wildlife Crossings Pilot Program.
Each year, it is estimated that there are more than one million wildlife vehicle collisions in the U.S. Wildlife-vehicle collisions involving large animals result in injuries to drivers and their passengers, representing approximately 200 human fatalities and 26,000 injuries to drivers and their passengers each year. These collisions also cost the public more than $10 billion annually. This includes economic costs caused by wildlife crashes, such as loss of income, medical costs, property damage, and more.
The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation supplied formal support for several of the projects, funding for one of them and potential future funding for others.
The projects are in Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Kentucky, Missouri, Montana (2), Nebraska, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Vermont, Washington (2) and Wyoming.
Click here to view the full list.
(Photo source: Colorado Parks and Wildlife)