The latest episode of the “Talking Michigan Transportation” podcast details how federal grant money will help the Michigan Department of Transportation fund a study of wildlife crossings to better protect motorists and animals statewide.
[Above image by the Michigan DOT]
On the podcast, Amanda Novak – a resource specialist at Michigan DOT who helped lead the effort to secure the federal grant funding – explains the potential safety benefits of that. For starters, the latest State Farm report on vehicle collisions with wildlife shows Michigan is ranked fourth among states for the highest number of such crashes.
Those crashes pose tremendous risk and costs to drivers, Michigan DOT noted. For example, white-tailed deer alone account for more than 55,000 collisions and a $130 million cost to drivers in the U.S. per year.
On the podcast, Novak talks about what she’s learned from other government agencies that have studied the problem and implemented mitigation efforts. For example, a podcast episode in 2024 featured a conversation with a connectivity specialist with the Yellowstone to Yukon or Y2Y Conservation Initiative about creative and successful solutions implemented on the Trans-Canada Highway in Banff National Park.
“The whole background of this grant is to [help wildlife] meet all of their ecological needs, as well as providing safe passage for them so they don’t collide with motorists,” explained Novak on the podcast.
“I have learned a lot from the other [state] DOTs [so] we won’t be starting from scratch,” she added. “They have a lot of background
information on what’s worked and what hasn’t with other various mitigation measures used in fencing areas and things like that. So, there’s a lot of great information out there that we can use once we get these hot spots [for wildlife collisions] identified.” To listen to the full podcast, click here.
