🐢 Wildlife tunnels can help save animal lives in NJ

🐢 The NJDEP has spent years building these tunnels to reduce wildlife mortality

🐢 They plan on building more


For years, The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection has been building wildlife tunnels under roadways for animal safety.

Wildlife tunnels allow amphibians, reptiles, and small mammals to safely cross from one side of the road to the other without getting hit by vehicles, says NJ Fish and Wildlife biologist, Gretchen Fowles.

A wildlife tunnel at the Assunpink Wildlife Management Area. (NJDEP)
A wildlife tunnel at the Assunpink Wildlife Management Area. (NJDEP)
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The tunnels are a combination of structures and fencing to help guide the animals, keep them off the roadway, and funnel them to the other side, she added.

She said these wildlife passages come in all shapes and sizes, and some are not even underground but rather above roadways.

Wildlife overpasses were first built over Route 78 in New Jersey in the 1980s. Fowles said the concept has grown in recent years as the need for habitat connectivity has become obvious.

“We have a fair amount of fragmentation across the landscape where we have urbanization and roads, and that makes it pretty tough for wildlife to be able to get from one habitat area to another, to really survive and thrive,” Fowles said.

A wildlife tunnel at the Assunpink Wildlife Management Area. (NJDEP)
A wildlife tunnel at the Assunpink Wildlife Management Area. (NJDEP)
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The tunnels are part of the NJDEP’s Connecting Habitat Across NJ (CHANJ) program.
As part of this project, state wildlife officials have been documenting the number of structures like this that have been built with wildlife in mind.

Fowles said there are about 50 wildlife tunnels across the state.

Frog (Vitali Dyatchenko/Getty)
Frog (Vitali Dyatchenko/Getty)
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The NJDEP has been monitoring areas in New Jersey that have been fragmented or broken up by roads and development. One area like that is the Assunpink Wildlife Management Area in Monmouth County, where two wildlife tunnels have been built.

There was several reptiles, reptiles and small mammals getting hit along that roadway.
“These tunnels were installed and they have fencing in between them to keep the animals off the road, and they’ve been tremendously successful at reducing animals getting killed on the road,” Fowles said.

A wildlife tunnel at the Assunpink Wildlife Management Area. (NJDEP)
A wildlife tunnel at the Assunpink Wildlife Management Area. (NJDEP)
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Instead, the animals have been using the tunnels to cross between habitat areas.
The NJDEP has also been working with the South Jersey Transportation Authority to build fencing along The Atlantic City Expressway to guide wildlife to safety.

There were existing structures under the road that were used for water. But oftentimes, wildlife doesn’t like to wade through water. They’re more likely to go up and over the road to get to the other side, Fowles said.

So, in this case, wildlife officials built “dry passage shelves” that wildlife can use without wading through water to cross through to the other side.

This is a neat project because, at the Frank S. Farley Service Plaza on the Atlantic City Expressway, a video monitor is talking about the CHANJ program. On the monitor, there is a variety of wildlife photos scrolling through.

A wildlife tunnel at the Assunpink Wildlife Management Area. (NJDEP)
A wildlife tunnel at the Assunpink Wildlife Management Area. (NJDEP)
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She said the NJDEP plans to more wildlife tunnels in the state in the future through its CHANJ project.

“We’re looking for specific spots where we can build these where they will be most effective. There’s lots of research that has found that if you build these things in the right location with the right design, they’re extremely effective,” Fowles said.

Endangered Blandings turtle
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These tunnels can reduce roadkill in those sections by over 90 percent, so they’ve been very successful, she added.

To do you part to help save wildlife in New Jersey, please visit the CHANJ website and submit records of wildlife that they see either trying to cross or a dead animal on the road. These documentations will help state wildlife officials track hot spots in the state for wildlife crossings, and possibly the need for tunnels.

To learn where the tunnels are, visit the CHANJ website. There is an interactive map called The Road Wildlife Mitigation Project and residents can see where the wildlife tunnels are located.

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