In Banff, elk and other wildlife were being killed so frequently, damaging cars and injuring people, that Parks Canada built large underpasses to try to alleviate the problem. This was also done earlier than that in Florida where the Florida Department of Transportation spent millions of dollars building underpasses under roads. Alligator Alley between Miami and Naples was basically impassable. The major cause of death of the Florida panthers is still vehicle collision.
So, these underpasses have been tried in many places. In Florida, they worked fairly well. They've been used by panthers, bears, alligators, and turtles and other things. In Banff, however, it's been more limited. Male Grizzlies have used the underpasses but no female Grizzly has ever used one. Some wolves use them, other wolves don't. Some other species we don't have data on but the more sensitive they are to human disturbance, the less likely they are to use them.
Since underpasses weren't completely effective, Canadians tried building overpasses at a cost of several million dollars. They've built one overpass so far but it's had pretty limited use. Overpasses aren't a new idea, either. In Europe, they call them Green Bridges. There are several in France, there are a few in Germany. They're used by deer and other small mammals. This is a Green Bridge in Croatia. They've built several of these in Croatia, primarily for Brown Bears. Whenever people kind of object to this idea of making passage ways for wildlife, I think about Croatia. And if, in a relatively poor country like that they can dedicate the resources necessary, it should be no problem for countries like the United States.
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