Published on July 17, 2024 by Ethan Rotberg, Senior Communications Specialist, Evergreen
Why did the chicken cross the road?
As urban areas continue to expand into wildlife habitats, the question should probably be “how?” Sharing the planet with wildlife means recognizing that cities aren’t just for humans. It’s about creating spaces where animals can live safely alongside us, reminding us of our connection to the natural world.
Innovative infrastructure that helps wildlife move safely across urban areas isn’t just about keeping them safe — it’s about fostering a deeper connection to nature within our cities. These thoughtful designs help us understand and appreciate urban biodiversity, making our environments more sustainable and vibrant.
From simple animal crossing signs to expansive networks of bee highways, check out the different ways we can ensure our animal neighbours can get to the other side of the road.
You’ve probably seen animal crossing signs across roads and highways without thinking too much about their crucial role in helping us share the planet with wildlife.
These signs began to appear in the mid-20th century as a response to increasing numbers of vehicle-animal collisions. As car travel became more common and road networks expanded into natural habitats, the need to alert drivers to potential wildlife crossings became necessary.
Signs are typically placed in regions where wildlife frequently crosses highways and roads, such as near forests, wetlands or natural reserves. The goal is to reduce the number of vehicle-animal collisions, which can be deadly for both animals and humans.
In many parts of the world, these signs feature silhouettes of animals like deer, elk, moose or other local wildlife.
Credit: visitnorway.com
This is truly a buzz-worthy urban initiative.
Bee highways, sometimes called pollinator pathways, support and protect bee populations by creating continuous habitats for them to thrive. These “highways,” consist of networks of gardens, parks, green rooftops and other green spaces planted with flowers that provide nectar and pollen for bees. The idea is to connect fragmented habitats within cities, allowing bees and other pollinators to move freely and find food throughout urban areas.
In 2015, an environmental group based in Oslo, Norway, designed the world’s first urban bee highway, a series of green spaces that form a network, ensuring that bees can navigate the urban landscape without facing starvation or habitat loss.
Bee highways are crucial for the survival of bees, which play a vital role in pollinating crops and wild plants. By providing a continuous habitat, these projects help maintain healthy pollinator populations, which are essential for food production and ecological balance.
They also raise awareness about the importance of pollinators and encourage community participation in conservation efforts. By integrating bee highways into urban planning, we can ensure they don’t bee-come an endangered species.
Credit: stepspublicart.org
Building taller and more expansive structures has meant finding ways to share the skies with our winged friends.
Window collisions are a significant threat to migratory birds. In Canada, window collisions kill as many as 42 million birds every year, according to the Government of Canada. Bird-safe building designs are all about making buildings safer for birds, reducing the number of collisions, especially with glass windows.
How do we get birds to avoid all that glass? Make it stick out. Many buildings are adding patterns, like dots, stripes or other shapes, so birds can see them better. Another method is using fritted glass, which has ceramic patterns baked onto the surface. This makes the glass more visible to birds while still being clear enough for people to see through.
Bird-safe designs can also include structural changes, like angling glass windows downward to cut down on reflections of the sky and trees that can trick birds.
When animal crossing signs just aren’t enough, sometimes animals need their very own road.
Animal crossing bridges, also known as wildlife overpasses, are specially designed to help animals cross highways and other barriers. These bridges are covered with plants and look like natural habitats, making them inviting for animals to use.
One of the best examples of these bridges is in Banff National Park. An infamous section of highway had averaged close to 100 elk-vehicle collisions each year. Several overpasses and underpasses were built to help animals like bears, elk and wolves, and research shows an 80% reduction in wildlife collisions on the stretch of Trans-Canada Highway.
Animal crossing bridges are usually wide and filled with native plants to make the animals feel at home. Fencing along the roads helps guide animals to these bridges, ensuring they use the safe crossing points instead of trying to cross the dangerous roads.
Credit: researchgate.net | F. Ottburg
Our amphibian friends may not need an entire bridge, but they still need a little help to stay safe and sound when crossing busy roads.
Enter amphibian tunnels — tiny tunnels designed to help frogs, toads and salamanders hop, skip and jump their way to safety. These small passageways under roads give amphibians a safe route during their seasonal migrations, reducing the risk of accidents.
Amphibian tunnels are often paired with small barriers along the roadside that guide the critters toward the tunnel entrances. These tunnels are especially important in areas where amphibians travel between breeding ponds and their living habitats, which often requires crossing busy roads.
In the Netherlands, a number of amphibian tunnels have been installed to protect local frog and toad populations. During migration season, thousands of frogs use these tunnels to safely reach their breeding grounds, avoiding the danger of crossing roads.
Learn more
Want to learn how we support pollinators on site at Evergreen Brick Works? Learn more about our Birds, Bees and Butterflies Garden.
Some of the most innovative urban infrastructure depends on great public spaces. They connect us to what matters most — each other, our communities, nature and our planet. Great places bring communities together and remind us of the joy of being connected with each other, the land and the wildlife.
