JEFFERSON CITY — The Federal Highway Administration awarded $320,000 to the Missouri Department of Transportation to study wildlife collisions through the Wildlife Crossings Pilot Program.
MoDOT partnered with the Missouri Department of Conservation to use the funds to study different areas of highways with a higher concentration of roadkill.
“I’m passionate about what I do just because I see those stories,” said Caleb Knerr, senior environmental specialist at MoDOT. “I see how these wildlife vehicle collisions are impacting drivers and safety.”
According to the Federal Highway Administration website, Congress found there are more than 1 million wildlife-vehicle collisions annually.
“I really just want to be able to look at where they’re happening and then see what we can do to try to help those not happen and help people stay safe and and have their lives not affected by a collision with wildlife,” Knerr said.
The project team working on the study is identifying the top 10 priority areas in the state and then plans to implement mitigation efforts.
Mitigation efforts include short-term and long-term solutions.
“Those can range anywhere from dynamic messaging boards, wildlife-exclusion fencing or wildlife fencing to funnel animals to existing structures,” Knerr said.
There are multiple systems that are used to collect hot spot data. Knerr said Missouri State Highway Patrol crash data is the primary data source, but they also rely on customer calls for wildlife that are collected through the MoDOT maintenance records.
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The study started in September 2024. MoDOT’s website lists five distinct milestones in the study.
They completed their first working paper in May and they are in progress on their second working paper.
“Once we have this planning project done, we’ll have a base map for what we can do in the future,” Knerr said. “And then we can take this plan and maybe apply for more wildlife crossing pilot program funding.”
The final report is set to be completed in February 2026.
One way citizens can help collect data is by reporting wildlife incidents using the Roadkill Observations and Data System (ROaDS). This is an app where people can submit photos, data and incidents of roadkill by location.
According to State Farm, Missouri is the 17th-worst state for animal collisions. The insurance company identified Missouri as a high-risk state for animal collisions.
“Right now is the busiest time of the year for animal hits. We’re seeing a lot of deer hits,” said Devin Fischer, owner of Fischer Body Shop in Jefferson City. “We have honestly, in the last week we have been averaging six or seven towings a day.”
Data from the Missouri State Highway Patrol shows there were almost 35,000 reported wildlife vehicle collisions on MoDOT-owned and maintained routes between 2014 and 2023.
“People don’t realize in the car, automotive, truck, whatever,” Fischer said. “It’s their second biggest investment in life outside of the house.”