Dear Editor:

PennDOT has finally acknowledged a regional issue that has been neglected by the Transportaton Department for far too long: According to statistics compiled by State Farm and PennDOT, Pennsylvania leads the entire nation in total volume of wildlife collision claims, with disastrous consequences for motorists, animals, the insurance industry, and the environment.

Having driven thousands of miles on Pennsylvania roadways, I have yet to see an appropriate response to this demoralizing situation in Pennsylvania.

In contrast to Pennsylvania’s apathy toward the epidemic of animal deaths on our roadways, neighboring states around the region are addressing this issue in strategic ways, including networks of overpasses, bridges, tunnels, and mapping strategies designed to protect migrating wildlife from vehicular collisions.

Our neighboring state of New Jersey has long been a pioneer in this effort. New Jersey’s Wildlife Corridor Action Plan is a shining example of strategies that currently include a number of natural, vegetation-covered overpasses spanning Interstate 78, built in the mid-1980s as some of the earliest dedicated wildlife bridges in the U.S.

Underground culverts and passageways are being deployed across regional roadways to give migrating turtles, frogs, snakes, and small mammals safe passage. State legislation requires the NJ Department of Environmental Protection and the Department of Transportation to formally identify wildlife collision hot spots and expand crossing strategies. See: https://dep.nj.gov/njfw/conservation/connecting-habitat-across-new-jersey-chanj/

Among the growing number of states taking this issue seriously is Florida, which currently features a massive concentration of specialized underpasses and overpasses dedicated to protecting endangered Florida Panthers (among other species) from the hazards of highway crossings.

Despite local apathy regarding this issue in Pennsylvania, there is some good news. In a recent newsletter, PennDOT announced a new statewide initiative, supported by $840,000 in federal funding, targeting wildlife collisions, with a strategic plan to reconnect fragmented wildlife habitats. (Department of Transportation: Pathways, July 2026)

I applaud PennDOT for taking this step toward making our roadways safer for people and animals, and am hopeful this signals a new era in which all living things can benefit from current and future infrastructure projects.

Juliet Perrin

Albrightsville