Of course, crossings don’t just magically appear out of the mist like a clueless cervid. Infrastructure costs money. A study published in 2021 by Washington State University researcher Wisnu Sugiarto found that the average cost of a wildlife crossing ranged from $500,000 to $6.2 million, depending on the length, materials, and geographic complexity of the project. 
Some would call that a bargain. “There’s virtually no other transportation infrastructure that’s going to get you this kind of return on investment,” says Renee Callahan, executive director of ARC Solutions, a nonprofit organization that promotes the development of wildlife crossings. 
Sure, ARC is an advocacy group, but the research backs up its claims. These crossings netted annual savings of $235,000 to $443,000 per structure in terms of collisions prevented, according to Sugiarto’s study.
The near-term outlook for wildlife crossings is favorable. The infrastructure bill passed by the U.S. Congress in 2021 included $350 million in grant funding specifically for these projects. If all that money is actually spent on building new crossings, the U.S. could add somewhere between 56 and 700, which, according to Sugiarto’s math, would save at least $13 million annually — and as much as $310 million. 
That means the investment could pay itself off in less than two years, and you can’t put a price tag on the human and animal lives saved. It’s the rare transportation infrastructure win that anyone can applaud — whether they have hands, hooves, or paws.