Page Back

Maryland Alliance for Greenway Improvement and Conservation

December 11, 2000

John Porcari, Secretary

Maryland Department of Transportation

Post Office Box 8755

Baltimore/Washington International Airport, MD 21240

Dear Secretary Porcari:

On June 9, 1998, President Clinton signed into law the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21). This act provided funding for projects to reduce vehicle-caused wildlife mortality while maintaining habitat connectivity. This funding can be used to provide wildlife crossings under highways where wildlife mortality is known to be high. The Act also specifies it is up to the States to recognize and develop a need for such projects.

Our existing road system was built to accommodate cars with little consideration given to its effect on wildlife. By widening and improving roads without providing wildlife crossings, we have forced thousands of animals to try to cross high-speed highways to get from one feeding area to another in order to survive. The result is a growing volume of animals killed on our highways each year. This is also a safety issue causing thousands of dollars in damage and resulting in many deaths, much of which is avoidable.

Although wildlife mortality on Maryland's highways is known to be high, there are few programs aimed at solving the problem. Highways should be constructed to allow wildlife an easy means of crossing them, and this should be part of any good road building policy. The Interstate Highway System, while helping to connect various parts of Maryland by automobile, has been devastating for wildlife. It has permanently fragmented wildlife habitats in some areas, while in others it allows wildlife to try to cross the high speed roads, where they are slaughtered in great numbers.

Maryland’s DOT needs a well defined program that determines where high wildlife mortality areas are located and provides a plan to reduce wildlife mortality. Other states are moving forward with comprehensive programs including North Carolina which is using infrared cameras, radio telemetry, and surveys of animal tracks to determine wildlife movement across roads in the state. They recognize a "clear need for management actions to reduce the incidence of vehicle-wildlife collisions for large mammals".

Arizona is constructing bridges over areas of high wildlife activity to allow animals to pass beneath their roads. Wyoming has provided wildlife fencing and access control on many miles of I-80 and I-25 and have installed a system for detecting deer movement and triggering flashing red lights on state roads. Florida has installed several underpasses on I-75 which nearly eliminated vehicle collisions with the Florida panther. They found many other species using these underpasses including bobcats, deer, raccoons, bear and alligators.

We ask that the following actions take place in Maryland:

1) Adopt a policy to insure wildlife crossings are built on all new or widened highways.

2) Set up a database to determine where the greatest wildlife mortality areas occur on State Highways. Data should be collected for all wildlife, not just deer.

3) Examine existing roads to see where separated wildlife crossings are needed, and determine if they can be constructed in a "cost effective" manner.

Please let us know at your earliest convenience when such action will be taken. We are eager to hear about DOT's plans for real progress in this area.

Sincerely,

Robert DeGroot

The following Alliance Partners agree with and support this letter: