Washington State wildlife overpass celebrates major victory: 10,000 crossings and no roadkill

“Want a success story? In July, we recorded the 10,000th successful crossing on our I-90 Snoqualmie Pass wildlife overcrossing,” WSDOT shared in a social media post. “Between that overcrossing and our 11 undercrossings on Snoqualmie Pass, we’ve seen nearly 40,000 crossings since 2014.”

That means trail cameras picked up at least 10,000 instances of an animal using the wildlife corridor to cross the interstate safely.

“Between 2019-2023, we removed 39,258 carcasses from state highways,” WSDOT added on social media. “In the stretch of I-90 Snoqualmie Pass where the overcrossing and undercrossings exist… that number has shrunk to nearly zero.”

“Wildlife crossings also carry an economic benefit. On average, a deer collision carries an economic cost of around $15,000. For elk, that figure jumps to $54,000. Fewer collisions can save the state hundreds of thousands of dollars each year.”