Wildlife Road Crossing Structures

Wildlife road crossing structures (WRCSs) are infrastructure built with the joint goals of increasing habitat connectivity across roads and reducing wildlife–vehicle collisions. These structures can take many forms and are sited and designed differently depending on the type of wildlife present in the nearby ecosystem (FHWA 2011). Different forms of WRCSs fall along a continuum of gray to green infrastructure; all include some form of gray infrastructure, but most also use natural infrastructure (FHWA 2011). Roads are direct threats to wildlife because of the potential for wildlife–vehicle collisions that cause individual mortalities, but also because roads fragment wildlife habitat and can limit natural wildlife movement patterns throughout a landscape (Bissonette and Cramer, 2008). Wildlife–vehicle collisions can result in both personal injury and property damage (Huijser et al. 2007). WRCSs are therefore installed to protect human life and property and maintain healthy wildlife populations.