Directs the department of transportation and the New York state thruway authority to identify sites along all highways…

Showing the cosponsors who are on Agora, A to Z. The official record may list more.

• Democratic9
• Republican5

This bill has cosponsors from more than one party.

Shown in neutral colors by design; Agora is non-partisan.

◆ The sponsor's argument

Why Leroy Comrie says this is needed

Roadkill and vehicular damage from collisions with wildlife is a serious problem in motor transportation. Crossing deer and other large mammals can create life-threatening hazards on roadways. In the United States alone, there are more than one million automobile accidents per year involving wildlife, resulting in billions of dollars in medical costs, vehicle repairs, insurance claims, and related economic losses annually. According to some estimates, automobile collisions kill more than a million animals every day, making them one of the leading causes of death for many vertebrate species. Still worse is the way major roads and other forms of development can subdivide animal populations and fragment habitats. Losing access to large areas of their living space makes it much harder for wildlife to forage for food, find mates, and maintain healthy genetic diversity. As people have become more aware of these dangers, one strategy to miti- gate them has gradually gained acceptance: human-made highway crossings designed specifically for animals. These can take many forms, depending on the species involved and the geographic features of the land. Common wildlife crossing structures include bridges and overpasses, tunnels, culverts, viaducts, and fencing systems designed to safely direct animal movement. Increasingly, such features are being incorporated into high- way planning and road improvement projects. When successfully imple- mented, they can significantly reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions, improve public safety, reconnect fragmented habitats, and lessen the environmental impact of transportation infrastructure. The concept was first developed in France in the 1950s and later widely expanded in the Netherlands, where hundreds of crossings have been constructed to protect badgers, elk, and other mammals. The Dutch also constructed the world's longest wildlife overpass, the Natuurbrug Zanderij Crailoo. Wildlife crossings are now used throughout Australia, Canada, and across the United States. Banff, Alberta, Canada witnessed one of the first highly successful wildlife crossing systems in North America. Since then, states including California, Colorado, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wyoming have constructed wildlife crossings of their own. These projects have substantially reduced roadkill, traffic fatali- ties, and property damage associated with wildlife-vehicle collisions. Federal funding opportunities for wildlife crossings remain available through the federal Wildlife Crossings Pilot Program and related infras- tructure and environmental grant programs. This bill creates a compre- hensive statewide process for identifying priority wildlife crossing sites, integrating wildlife considerations into transportation planning, and positioning New York State to compete effectively for available federal funding opportunities. Federal funding opportunities for wild- life crossings remain available Federal funding opportunities for wild- life crossings remain available By requiring coordination between transportation, environmental, and motor vehicle agencies, and by integrating wildlife crossing infrastruc- ture into future capital planning and roadway rehabilitation projects, this legislation advances both public safety and environmental steward- ship goals while ensuring transparency and accountability in project selection and implementation decisions.

This is the sponsor's own case for the bill, quoted from their memorandum. It is not Agora's description of what the bill does.