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Animal-Vehicle Collision Safety Program

How to prevent animal-vehicle collisions.

Alberta Wildlife Watch

The Alberta Wildlife Watch Program collects and analyzes data on animal-vehicle collisions in order to improve both driver and animal safety, reduce the number of animal collisions, provide information to inform mitigation strategies, and to help evaluate mitigation activities.

Mitigation strategies

The Government of Alberta helps reduce the number of collisions with wildlife by installing animal-vehicle collision mitigation infrastructure such as:

  • wildlife exclusion fencing
  • wildlife overpasses and underpasses
  • enhancing existing bridges to support wildlife passage
  • trialing innovative strategies such as animal detection systems

Animal-vehicle collision mitigation infrastructure

Wildlife crossing structures physically separate wildlife from traffic and allow safe wildlife passage across roadways via underpasses or overpasses. The Alberta Wildlife Watch Program delivers projects to improve driver safety and minimize the impacts of highways on wildlife populations while providing safe passing opportunities.

As part of its work mitigating animal-vehicle collisions (AVC), the Government of Alberta is also working on several highway infrastructure projects including wildlife overpasses, underpasses and fencing to help safely keep animals off highways.

  • Statistics

    • AVCs accounted for approximately 60% of the reported collisions on rural highways between 2015 and 2020.
    • AVCs cost Albertans approximately $300,000 a day in direct and indirect costs, including:
      • property damage
      • health care
      • highway cleanup

  • Benefits

    • AVC mitigation projects on provincial highways can help reduce AVCs by 80%.
    • These projects help facilitate the natural movement and migration patterns of wildlife without impacting highway safety.
    • Over time these projects will enhance biodiversity and habitat connectivity what would otherwise be disconnected by highways.

Animal-Vehicle Collision mitigation projects

Photo of a trail camera image of a cougar walking through deep snow in a forest early in the morning.
Photo of a trail camera image of two coyotes on a snowy slope at night.
Photo of a trail camera image of a young elk walking through snow in a forest, during late afternoon.
Photo of a trail camera image of a black bear rubbing against the bark of a tree in a forest in the early morning.
Photo of a trail camera image of a male whitetail deer walking along the side of a dirt slope at night.
Photo of a trail camera image of a young elk walking along sloped, gravelly land at night.
Photo of a trail camera image of a raven flying close to the camera, with wire fencing and a road in the background.
Photo of a trail camera image of a male whitetail deer walking along the side of a dirt slope with mountains and a sunset in the far distance.
Photo of a trail camera image of three whitetail deer on a snowy slope just outside a forest, in late afternoon as the sun has started to set.
Photo of a trail camera image of an elk walking through a forest at night.

New projects

Highway 1A

  • Grotto Mountain Wildlife Underpass (in design)
  • Gap Lake Wildlife Overpass (in design)
  • Cochrane to Calgary Wildlife Underpass (in design)

Highway 3

  • Island Ridge Wildlife Overpass (in design)
  • Iron Ridge Wildlife Overpass (in design)
  • Sulphur Spring Wildlife Overpass (in design)

Ongoing projects

Highway 1

  • Bow Valley Gap wildlife overpass (2024 expected completion)
  • Bow River bridge to Banff wildlife exclusion fencing (in design)
  • Quaite Valley wildlife exclusion fencing (in design)

Highway 3

  • Rock Creek wildlife underpass (construction expected in 2024/25)
  • Oldman Reservoir Bridge wildlife exclusion fencing (in design)
  • Lundbreck to Cowley wildlife exclusion fencing (in design)
  • Bellevue to Burmis wildlife exclusion fencing (in design)
  • Town of Frank wildlife exclusion fencing (in design)

Highway 8

  • Elbow River Bridge wildlife exclusion fencing (in design)

Highway 22

  • Animal Detection system trial (in design)

Contact

For more information, contact:

Stephen Legaree, P. Biol.
Environmental Specialist, Alberta Transportation and Economic Corridors
Phone: 780-293-2042
Email: [email protected]

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