Tools to Reduce Wildlife-Vehicle Collisions and to Maintain Habitat Connectivity
There are many tools and approaches that can be used to reduce animal-vehicle collisions and that provide habitat connectivity for wildlife across highways. These mitigation measures are organized in three broad-scale categories as measures that are aimed to:
- Modify traffic and/or driver behavior;
- Modify animal behavior or population size using minimal infrastructure; and
- Physically separate or modify animal behavior using substantial infrastructure.
Each measure has associated costs and benefits, and the abilities of these measures to reduce animal-vehicle collisions differ dramatically. Wildlife fencing with a combination of underpasses and overpasses have been demonstrated to be some of the most effective measures to reduce collisions with large wildlife species. Previous research has shown that wildlife fencing in combination with wildlife under- and overpasses can reduce collisions with large wild ungulates by 79-97%.
More information on wildlife crossing structures can be found in:
Huijser et al. 2007 
Wildlife-Vehicle Collision and Crossing Mitigation Measures: A Toolbox for the Montana Department of Transportation4.18 MB
Huijser et al. 2007
Animal-Vehicle Collision Data Collection. A Synthesis of Highway Practice5.20 MB
Huijser et al. 2008
Wildlife-vehicle Collision Reduction Study. Report to Congress2.92 MB