In 2024, the Wilman Wadandi Highway, a 16.7-mile (or 27-kilometer), four-lane highway, opened in Western Australia. The $1.46 billion project sits about 105 miles south of Perth and connects the Forrest Highway to the Bussell Highway in Bunbury.
But it also does something else.
When building the major highway, local officials also integrated 45 different wildlife corridors into the design: 19 rope bridges, 24 underpasses, and two land bridges.
These corridors, which also feature more than 200,000 feet of fauna fencing, are meant to help wild kangaroos and possums safely traverse the giant expanse. But local animal rescuers initially doubted the design, saying the new protections weren’t actually saving the lives of animals.
New data from the West Australian Department of Transport hopes to ease their worries.
New night-vision cameras have recorded thousands of wildlife sightings on the many wildlife corridors, including endangered species like brush-tailed phascogales and western ringtail possums.
“Monitoring to date has far exceeded our expectations and has shown regular and widespread use of the structures,” a government spokesperson told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Main Roads, the local transit agency, began monitoring animal crossings in April 2025 with 50 motion-sensor cameras.
“A sample review of 12 nights of monitoring across spring 2025 and summer 2026 recorded almost 1,000 images of possums and phascogales using the structures across 46 cameras,” a spokesperson said. “This equates to an average of more than 75 recorded uses each night.”
Local conservationists remain skeptical and are not eager to assume that these numbers outweigh the negative impact of the new highway. But they are open to learning more, as the government said it plans to publish a more detailed technical paper on these findings.
“I don’t think we have enough information to say that [the corridors are working] yet, and I know there’s been a lot of scepticism about whether they’re working,” Manda Page, the CEO of conservation group South West NRM, told the ABC.
“This was a great experiment to find out if these sorts of structures across much wider roads were going to be used by wildlife, and I really look forward to delving into the data.”
What’s the deal with wildlife crossings?
Wildlife crossings, whether large overpasses, small culverts, or rope systems, are corridors designed to connect separated populations of wildlife, often across busy roads and highways or residential areas.
Across the globe, these installations have gained popularity and served as helpful case studies for proven solutions to reduce traffic deaths among wildlife.
Across the United States, a handful of states have invested heavily in wildlife crossing development, including Colorado and Arizona, both of which have seen major reductions in wildlife collisions since implementing this infrastructure.
California is getting ready to open the world’s largest wildlife corridor, which has already welcomed mule deer before construction has been completed.
In the U.S. alone, there are more than 1,000 dedicated wildlife crossings, including overpasses and underpasses.
And these crossings have also been popular in other parts of Australia, as well as Malaysia.
“Wildlife crossing structures — such as overpasses, underpasses, and fencing — that provide safe passage for migrating animals across busy roads can reduce wildlife-vehicle crashes by more than 90%,” Pew Research Center reports.
“This infrastructure not only prevents deaths, injuries, property damage, and medical costs but also reconnects important habitat that has been fragmented by roadways. Research has found that one wildlife crossing can prevent about 1,400 accidents over a 70-year lifespan, which translates into billions of dollars in savings.”
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Header image courtesy of WA Department of Transport
