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Good practice Imported

Banff National Park Wildlife Crossings — Trans-Canada Highway Mitigation Programme

Canada · Banff · See the Canada profile

Evidence: Observational / pre–post Top 58% 40/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Parks Canada's 44 wildlife crossings along Banff's Trans-Canada Highway recorded 200,000+ animal crossings since 1996, cut collisions ~80% (96% for elk/deer), and a peer-reviewed genetics study confirms gene flow for grizzly and black bears.

200,000+ crossing events
Wildlife crossing events logged since 1996 (1996-present)
11 species
Large mammal species using the crossings (1996-present)
6 structures
Overpasses (1996-2014)
38 structures
Underpasses (1996-2014)
82 km
Highway length covered
80 %
Overall reduction in wildlife-vehicle collisions/mortality (1996-present)
96 %
Reduction in collisions for elk and deer (1996-present)
47 %
Black bears that bred across the highway after using crossings
27 %
Grizzly bears that bred across the highway after using crossings
4 million CAD
Maximum cost per structure
Banff National Park Wildlife Crossings — Trans-Canada Highway Mitigation Programme

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
Parks Canada, with the Western Transportation Institute and University of Montana
Period
1996–present (highway fencing/crossings built 1996–2014; monitoring ongoing since 1996)
Keywords
transport infrastructure, biodiversity connectivity, protected-area management, road ecology

Context

Parks Canada began fencing the Trans-Canada Highway through Banff National Park and building wildlife crossing structures in 1996, after wildlife-vehicle collisions grew along the park's most heavily used wildlife corridors.

Activities

The system now comprises 6 overpasses and 38 underpasses along 82km of highway, paired with wildlife fencing — the largest and longest-monitored network of its kind. Individual structures have cost up to CAD 4 million each, and use varies by species: elk and deer readily use both overpasses and underpasses, while some grizzly bears and cougars prefer larger, more open overpasses.

Results

Since 1996, researchers have logged more than 200,000 crossing events by 11 species of large mammal. Parks Canada's monitoring attributes an overall 80% drop in wildlife-vehicle collisions and mortality to the fenced crossings, rising to about 96% for elk and deer. A peer-reviewed genetic study (Sawaya et al., Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 2014), based on roughly 10,000 hair samples, found that 47% of sampled black bears and 27% of grizzly bears using the crossings had successfully bred with populations on the opposite side of the highway.

Conclusions

Parks Canada and outside researchers consider the long monitoring record, not any single structure, the main reason the programme is cited as a global reference case for road-ecology mitigation.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Very high (> €5M) — Individual structures have cost up to CAD 4 million each across the 44-structure, 82km network.
Time to results
Long (> 3 years) — Highway fencing and crossings built 1996-2014; monitoring has run continuously since 1996.
Staffing & skills
Parks Canada, Western Transportation Institute, University of Montana

Conditions for success

  • Wildlife fencing paired with every crossing structure to funnel animals to safe crossing points
  • Structure design matched to species — larger, more open overpasses for grizzly bears and cougars; smaller underpasses acceptable to elk and deer
  • Sustained, multi-decade monitoring (hair-snag genetic sampling plus collision records) rather than a one-off assessment

Common failure modes

  • Uneven use by species — some grizzly bears and cougars avoid narrower underpasses
  • High per-structure cost (up to CAD 4 million) limits how quickly a network can be built

Commonly funded by

LIFE Programme National / regional programmes

Indicative funding routes for practices of this type — always check each programme's current calls and eligibility rules.

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

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