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Crossings review: How to help wildlife live with motorways

From Brazil to the Netherlands, motorway builders are starting to take wildlife into account, but the effort must be global. Ben Goldfarb's beautifully crafted Crossings is a wake-up call

By Vijaysree Venkatraman

1 November 2023

RCH095 The Netherlands, Kootwijk. Motorway and eco crossover for fauna. Ecoduct crossing A1 highway. Aerial. Ecoduct. Wildlife bridge. Wildlife crossing.

A grassy overpass spares mammals the dangers of a Netherlands motorway

Frans Lemmens/Alamy

Crossings
Ben Goldfarb (W. W. Norton)

ANYONE who has ever crossed a busy road in a metropolis without well-regulated traffic – say, Mumbai, India – will understand the plight of a deer trying to cross a rural highway in the US. Evolution hasn’t prepared deer for encounters with cars or trucks.

In the US alone, over a million crashes between vehicles and large mammals occur each year, with wildlife often ending up as roadkill. Roads and fast-moving vehicles give humans mobility. But…

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