By:Cami Koons
Iowa Capital Dispatch
An Iowa House subcommittee advanced a bill Thursday that would initiate a state committee to study the feasibility of adding wildlife crossings on certain highways.
House Study Bill 562 calls for an analysis of animal-vehicle collisions along highways, a ranking of high-crash corridors and suggestions for animal crossing solutions, which could include wildlife overpasses, underpasses or improved fencing along a highway corridor.
Wildlife overpasses are popular in some European countries and have been adopted in a handful of U.S. states.
At the end of 2025, Colorado completed a wildlife overpass across a stretch of Interstate 25 between Denver and Colorado Springs. According to the state transportation department, the $15 million project was completed within a year and it, combined with wildlife underpasses and other crossing systems, is expected to reduce animal collisions along the stretch of interstate by 90%.
Several environmental and wildlife conservation groups, including the Sierra Club Iowa Chapter, Humane World for Animals and Animal Rescue League Iowa, registered in support of the bill.
Humane World for Animals’ Iowa State Director Preston Moore said in an emailed statement that as human development continues to expand, wildlife are left with fewer “wild and open spaces.”
“Developing safe wildlife road crossings as well as restoring and conserving critical habitat and wildlife corridors are essential to ensure wildlife are protected from increased human development and climate change,” Moore said. “Road development and vehicle collisions with wildlife can be quite damaging to populations, especially those that are already small and fragile.”
According to a 2024 population density survey conducted by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, deer cause at least $129 million in vehicle collision costs in Iowa annually.
Moore said while deer account for the vast majority of animal-vehicle collisions, “many other species are struck on roadways.”
The bill also calls for the development of a grant request strategy aligned with the federal department of transportation’s wildlife crossing program.
State natural resources and transportation department directors would be asked to serve on the study committee. Rep. Norlin Mommsen, R-DeWitt, chaired the House subcommittee and asked if lower-level staff from the departments should instead sit on the committee.
“We’re pulling in all the directors for – I’m not trying to minimize – but is this the best use of state resources?” Mommsen asked.
Subcommittee members asked for additional information about animal-vehicle collisions in the state and on the success of wildlife overpasses. Mommsen advanced the bill, but said he would speak with additional stakeholders about it.
This story was originally produced by Iowa Capital Dispatch, which is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network which includes Nebraska Examiner, and is supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.