$111 Million AVAILABLE in funding for Wildlife Crossing Infrastructure
The Wildlife Crossings Pilot Program (Wildlife Crossings Program) is a competitive grant program with the goal of reducing Wildlife Vehicle Collisions (WVCs) while improving habitat connectivity for terrestrial and aquatic species.
In creating the Wildlife Crossings Program, Congress found that there are more than 1,000,000 WVCs annually which present a danger to human safety and wildlife survival, cost over $8 billion, and result in approximately tens of thousands of serious injuries and hundreds of fatalities on U.S. roadways.
Funding Overview
The total amount of funding available is $111,850,000. The cost sharing is 80% federal share and 20% non-federal funding.
There is no minimum or maximum award size; however, applicants are encouraged to submit comprehensive applications for large-scale projects with total project costs of $200,000 or greater. FHWA anticipates awarding between 15- 50 grants with anticipated awards ranging from $200,000 to $20 million, although FHWA may also make awards outside of this range.
Eligibility Applicants
- State Departments of Transportation
- Metropolitan Planning Organizations;
- Units of local government;
- Regional transportation authorities;
- Special purpose districts or public authorities with a transportation function;
- Indian tribes;
- Federal Land Management Agencies; and
- A group of any of the above entities.
Eligible Activities
Construction projects include engineering, design, permitting, right-of-way acquisition, and other activities related to the construction of infrastructure improvements, such as:
- Environmental permitting and right-of-way acquisition to construct a wildlife crossing structure
- Adaptation or replacement of a culvert or bridge structure to accommodate connectivity for terrestrial species that are experiencing WVCs
- Construction of a wildlife overpass or underpass and fencing
- Preservation or restoration of habitat necessary to secure the effectiveness of a crossing project
- Construction of multiple crossing structures in an area to connect habitat for terrestrial or aquatic species
- Design and pre-construction of an underpass or overpass for wildlife passage
Non-Construction projects include planning, research, and educational activities that are not directly related to construction of infrastructure improvements, such as:
- Research on safety innovations to reduce WVCs
- Research and monitoring on the effectiveness of WVC mitigation
- Development of mapping tools to document WVCs
- Analysis of impacts of WVCs and best practices to reduce WVCs
- Planning studies to identify terrestrial and aquatic wildlife migration corridors and roadway barriers to habitat that lead to WVCs
- Tracking wildlife and mapping WVCs
- Outreach activities to educate the public on the hazards of WVCs
All projects should seek to protect motorists and wildlife by reducing the number of WVCs and improve habitat connectivity for terrestrial and aquatic species.
Eligible Costs
Eligible project costs may include the following eligible grant activities for non-construction projects:
- Planning
- Research
- Public outreach
- Feasibility analysis
Eligible project costs may include the following eligible grant activities for construction projects:
- Environmental review
- Preliminary engineering
- Design work
- Preservation
- Replacement
range of eligible activities that include both construction and non-construction activities:
- Reconstruction
- Rehabilitation
- Acquisition of real property and rights-of-way
- Environmental mitigation
- Permitting
- Public outreach project monitoring
- Construction contingencies
- Operations
FHWA recognizes that some potential projects may focus on subsets of activities within project development (e.g., environmental reviews or preliminary engineering) or propose to complete project activities (e.g., final design and construction). FHWA will allow projects consisting of such subsets.
