THE DEER HAVE INFRASTRUCTURE NOW.
Washington’s I-90 Snoqualmie Pass wildlife overcrossing recorded its 10,000th successful animal crossing in July. Add 11 undercrossings and the project is nearing 40,000 recorded crossings since 2014. Apparently the elk were just waiting for civil engineering.
THE DEER HAVE INFRASTRUCTURE NOW
A wildlife bridge over Interstate 90 at Washington’s Snoqualmie Pass just logged its 10,000th successful animal crossing. Together with 11 nearby undercrossings, the corridor has recorded nearly 40,000 wildlife crossings since monitoring began in 2014. It turns out one answer to “what if the highway is in the way?” is simply: build the elk a bridge.
WHAT HAPPENED
Busy highways do more than create collision risks. They can also divide habitat and isolate wildlife populations that need to move across a landscape to feed, reproduce and maintain healthy genetics.
Washington State Department of Transportation built a network of crossing structures along I-90 through Snoqualmie Pass to reconnect habitat on both sides of the freeway. Trail cameras now show animals actually using them at scale. In July 2026, the overcrossing itself recorded its 10,000th successful crossing. Across the overpass and 11 underpasses in the corridor, WSDOT says the total is approaching 40,000 since 2014.
The crossings serve both wildlife and people: animals get safer access to habitat, while drivers face fewer dangerous encounters with deer, elk and other large animals.
WHY THIS IS HOPESLOP
Because this is what happens when somebody looks at an apparently permanent problem — six lanes of asphalt cutting an ecosystem in half — and decides it is, in fact, an engineering problem.
No inspirational quote required. They built the bridge. The animals found it. Ten thousand crossings later, the deer have infrastructure.
ORIGINAL SOURCEWashington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) via Good Good GoodRead the original report