LETTER: Wildlife highway crossings serve a wonderful purpose

On a recent trip to Lake Mead through Las Vegas, I saw the large, new, bighorn sheep crossing structure on the Boulder City bypass section of Interstate 11. I have seen similar structures for deer in Northern Nevada on Interstate 80. What an amazing piece of work. After seeing this crossing, I wondered: How great is the benefit, what do projects like this cost and how are they funded?

According to a Nevada Department of Transportation study, more than 5,000 big game animals — such as deer, pronghorn, elk and bighorn sheep — are hit and killed by vehicles in the state annually. Wildlife-highway crossings make our roads safer, prevent lost revenue and reduce wildlife mortalities.

This particular structure on I-11, with its artwork befitting the Las Vegas motif, cost several million dollars, an expense states cannot venture into lightly. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the bipartisan infrastructure law passed by Congress last year, created a pilot program under which states can apply for grants to fund these projects. States must also put up matching funds, and several surrounding states have created such accounts. Nevada should follow its neighbors and create such an account to take advantage of these federal funds.