by Wildlife crossings are life-saving infrastructure for both humans and animals. Around the world, engineers are building bridges and tunnels to help animals safely cross highways, reconnect migration routes, and avoid deadly collisions. From massive land bridges in North America to tiny amphibian tunnels in Europe, these crossings are changing the way we think about road design. Here are some of the most fascinating examples of wildlife crossings from around the world.
#1.
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In Hilversum, Netherlands, the Natuurbrug Zanderij Crailoo stretches 800 meters across roads, rail lines, and a sports complex. Built in 2006, it helps deer, boar, and badgers safely move between habitats. The Netherlands has over 600 animal crossing, more than any other country, because its dense road network had severely fragmented wildlife territory. These crossings are part of a national effort to reconnect the landscape.
#2.
In Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada, this twin-tunnel overpass is part of a 44-crossing network built along the Trans-Canada Highway. It’s been monitored since the ’90s and is now used by over a dozen large mammal species, including wolves, bears, and lynx. Trail cameras recorded elk trying to cross the bridge before construction ended. Collisions in the area have dropped by 80%.
#3.
Credit: SounderBruce(wiki)
The Nutty Narrows Bridge in Longview, Washington is a 60-foot squirrel bridge built in 1963 to help squirrels safely cross Olympia Way. Local contractor Amos Peters designed it after several squirrels were killed crossing the road, and the city quickly approved the idea. Named as a playful nod to the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, it saw squirrel traffic the day after installation and has since become a quirky symbol of the town.
#4.
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In Singapore, the Eco-Link@BKE connects Bukit Timah Nature Reserve with the Central Catchment Nature Reserve across the Bukit Timah Expressway. It opened in 2013 and was planted with over 3,000 native trees and shrubs to recreate forest cover. Its hourglass shape narrows to about 50 meters at the center. Between 2018 and 2021, 31 new species were recorded using the bridge, including pangolins, civets, colugos, and the critically endangered lesser mousedeer.
#5.
Credit: smh.com.au
Across eastern Australia, rope bridges have been strung over highways to help gliders, possums, and other treetop species cross safely. The first major ones went up in the early 2000s, with lengths ranging from 30 to 70 meters. Long-term monitoring has recorded thousands of crossings by species like sugar gliders, squirrel gliders, and brush-tailed phascogales. They’re now a common feature on major roads in Victoria, New South Wales, and Queensland.
#6.
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Another view of one of the wildlife crossing in Banff. Just stunning!
#7.
Doug Engle, Doug Engle/Ocala Star-Banner
This land bridge in Marion County / Ocala, Florida, United States spans Interstate 75 and opened in June 2000, making it the first true wildlife land bridge in the U.S.
The 2,000-foot-long path serves not just hikers, bikers, and equestrians, but wildlife as well. Camera footage confirms that mammals like raccoons, opossum and even panthers cross it.
#8.
Credit: Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area
Wildlife, large and small, are getting some help from their biologist friends at the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) and the National Park Service (NPS) to cross a dozen-mile stretch of State Route 118, a two-lane highway in Ventura County.
#9.
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In 2018, crews built a wildlife crossing over Interstate 80 in Parleys Canyon, near Summit Park, Utah, United States. It’s 50 feet wide and about 320 feet long, with fencing stretching for miles on either side. The $5 million project was Utah’s first bridge built exclusively for animals. By 2021, researchers recorded more than 700 crossings in a single year, with at least 23 species using it including moose, bobcats, porcupines, and coyotes.
#10.
Credit: caltrans
Progress ❤️ I love to see it! This wildlife bridge in Agoura Hills, California will stretch 200 feet across ten lanes of the 101 freeway. Crews used over 26 million pounds of concrete and 6,000 cubic yards of engineered soil, and they’ll plant 5,000 native species to mimic the surrounding landscape. Crews broke ground on the $90 million project on Earth Day 2022, aiming to open it by 2026. The goal is to reconnect habitat for mountain lions and other wildlife separated by urban sprawl.
#11.
Credit: cpci
Just outside Lake O’Hara in Banff, British Columbia, this massive overpass stretches across six lanes of the Trans-Canada Highway. At 33 meters wide, it’s one of the largest single-span wildlife crossings in the world. It’s part of the largest system of animal crossings on the planet, linking over 40 overpasses and underpasses in Yoho and Banff. Since going in, collisions have dropped and migration routes are finally reconnecting.
#12.
Credit: economist
Near Voreppe in southeastern France, this écopont crosses the A48 motorway. It’s one of nearly 100 wildlife bridges built by the APRR network, with 19 more underway across the country. Each bridge is about 25 meters wide and planted with logs, hedges, and native vegetation to guide animals across. Monitoring has recorded over 300 crossings per year, with more than 25 mammal species using them, including deer and wild boar.
#13.
Credit: John Phelan (wiki)
Amherst, Massachusetts, United States
Two small amphibian tunnels under Henry Street opened in 1987 to help spotted salamanders migrate safely between winter woods and breeding pools. These were the very first amphibian tunnels in the U.S., installed after volunteers carried salamanders across the road for years. They measure about 10 inches high by 6 inches wide and still serve dozens of salamanders annually.
#14.
Credit: parks.australia.gov.au
Another very cool example of a wildlife crossing from Australia! This is a crab bridge on Christmas Island.
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Credit: gov.uk
This is one of the wildlife overpasses in the UK, or what they refer to as “green bridges”. This great example opened in 2018 above the Knutsford-Bowdon bypass on the A556 in Cheshire. It keeps small animals safe from the road below such as badgers and voles.
#15.
Credit: Ōamaru Blue Penguin Colony
Does this win the award for cutest wildlife crossing? The town of Omaru on New Zealand’s South Island built an underpass for its korora penguins, also known as little penguins. The community is doing what it can to protect the currently struggling species. This tunnel helps them safely move from where they fish at sea and rest on land. Around 20 penguins use this tunnel each night.
#16.
Credit: Lewa Wildlife Conservancy (youtube)
Africa’s first elephant underpass opened in 2011 near Mount Kenya, reconnecting two separated elephant populations. Built beneath a regional highway, it lets elephants move safely between habitats.
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