Wildlife-vehicle collisions across the U.S. cause an estimated 26,000 human injuries and 200 human deaths each year. These collisions also affect millions of animals every year. It is estimated there are between 1-2 million auto accidents each year involving wildlife, costing citizens over $8 billion annually in medical costs and vehicle repairs. In this state alone, there are 65,000 deer-vehicle collisions annually. Some portion of these injuries, fatalities and high costs to both humans and wildlife, could be avoided if safe highway wildlife crossing opportunities were carefully studied, methods evaluated, and innovative and appropriate highway wildlife crossing infrastructure was funded and constructed.

Fortunately, we have the answers! The New York State Legislature just passed the New York Wildlife Crossing Act (S4198B/A4243B) with bipartisan support which directs the Department of Transportation and the NYS Thruway Authority to study, identify, and prioritize places along New York roadways, thruways, and parkways for safe, enticing, and attractive wildlife crossings.

We urge Gov. Kathy Hochul to sign the bill into law as soon as possible, in hopes this op-ed, along with an outpouring of reader support, will encourage the Governor to take immediate action to protect both humans and state wildlife.

When Hochul signs the legislation, it will accomplish four important objectives over the next two years: first, it directs the state Department of Transportation (DOT) and Thruway Authority to identify and then prioritize those top ten highway segments which most threaten wildlife-vehicle collisions; second, it directs the agencies to study the most feasible and effective methods of wildlife crossings which qualify for federal grant funding; third, it authorizes these state agencies to coordinate with wildlife experts to gain scientific information about effective wildlife crossing designs, and finally, it directs the state DOT to update its Highway Design Manual to incorporate design standards which enhance wildlife passages and corridors.

When Hochul signs this act into law, New York could apply to receive grant funding to build wildlife crossings from the Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) Wildlife Crossings Pilot Program. The program provides $350 million (nationally) in funding to these important projects that seek to reduce WVCs and improve habitat connectivity. New York would see a growth in job creation in construction and planning, further improving the economy.

Consider just one nearby highway, the Adirondack Northway, I-87. While it offers us great north-south mobility, it forms a near impenetrable barrier to wildlife passage. In addition to those wildlife killed or injured directly on the Northway, it also causes indirect impacts by isolating populations on either side, preventing migration, reducing wildlife access to breeding areas, food and water, and reducing the genetic diversity and strength of animal populations. Further, in a FHWA study, it was found that WVCs threaten the survival of 21 federally listed threatened and endangered species, including the Canada Lynx and Bog Turtle which are found in New York state.

Wildlife experts have already identified a number of important wildlife migratory corridors which are severed by highways in New York. These include wildlife corridors connecting the Adirondack Park to Ontario’s Algonquin Park, the Adirondack Park with the Tug Hill Plateau, and the southern shores of Lake Champlain with Vermont and the rest of New England. These and many other locations across the state deserve to be studied and evaluated for possible wildlife crossings by the DOT and Thruway Authority once the bill is signed by Governor Hochul.

By reconnecting fragmented, isolated wildlife habitats through wildlife crossing structures along the Northway and other highways, the populations and food chains of many wildlife species could improve, while decreasing costs that New York residents and their insurance companies must pay following wildlife-vehicle collisions.

New York has fallen well behind other states, including California, Colorado, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wyoming which all have studied, funded, and constructed wildlife crossings of their own. Such structures have greatly reduced roadkill, traffic fatalities and vehicular damage associated with WVCs. Including Trappers Point, Wyoming where wildlife crossing structures reduced WVCs by 80%, and the movement of migrating deer increased significantly. Other examples include the Trans-Canada Highway in Banff National Park which has reduced collisions by 80% through the introduction of wildlife crossings.

Public support for Wildlife Crossing legislation proved crucial to the bill’s passage in the NYS Legislature Spring, 2024. Now, we ask our readers to urge Governor Hochul to sign the bill. Remind her that wildlife crossings have proven to be viable and cost-effective solutions to wildlife-vehicle collisions throughout the US and Canada. They have allowed many species to safely navigate highways that once severed their populations. Now, we need wildlife crossings in New York so that we do not lose more critical ecosystem functions, precious wildlife, and incur more human injuries and deaths. For our native wildlife and for human safety, this legislation should be passed and signed by Governor Hochul now so that it can be implemented beginning in 2025. Please contact her office at 518-474-8390 or send her a message at https://www.governor.ny.gov/content/governor-contact-form.

Rose Reber and Anna Snow, and Dave Gibson of Adirondack Wild, which is an organization of committed individuals dedicating their lives to the wildness of the Adirondack Park. We are an advocate who embraces, defends and protects wilderness and promotes wild land values and science-based stewardship of public and private lands.