Hey there, fellow road trippers and nature lovers! Let’s talk about something that’s been quietly sitting on the sides of highways and backroads for decades – road guardrails. If you’ve ever driven down a highway, you’ve definitely seen them: those metal beams or concrete barriers that keep cars from veering off into a ditch, a tree, or even oncoming traffic. But here’s the thing I’ve been obsessing over lately, especially as someone who’s been in the road guardrail game for over 8 years: how do these things affect the wildlife that lives right next to our roads? Road Guardrail
I get it, most people don’t think about this beyond “guardrails save drivers’ lives” – and that’s 100% true. But as a supplier, I don’t just sell these beams; I’ve spent hours chatting with wildlife biologists, driving out to remote stretches to see how deer and raccoons and even small birds react to them, and testing new designs that don’t just keep humans safe, but also don’t mess up the animals that call these areas home. Today, I’m breaking down what I’ve learned, the good, the bad, and the not-yet-solved, and how we’re trying to make guardrails work for everyone.
Let’s start with the obvious good stuff, because that’s why guardrails exist in the first place: they’ve cut down on so many deadly crashes for drivers. But what about wildlife? Turns out, guardrails can actually save some animals too. Wait, really? Yeah, hear me out. Take a deer that’s spooked by a car – if they dart right in front of a vehicle, that’s a disaster for both the deer and the driver. But a properly placed guardrail can create a physical barrier that stops a deer from running straight into the road. I’ve seen this firsthand on a stretch of rural highway in northern Ohio where we installed our flexible steel guardrails a few years back. The local biologist told us deer-vehicle crashes dropped by almost 20% there in the first two years. That’s not just good for drivers – less dead deer on the side of the road means more food for scavengers like coyotes and vultures, too.
Then there’s the smaller creatures: frogs, snakes, and turtles. You might not think guardrails matter to them, but on roads that cut through wetlands, those metal beams act like little guideposts. They follow the edge of the road, so when a turtle is trying to cross to get to a nesting spot on the other side, the guardrail’s gap between the ground and the beam is just enough for them to slip under without being run over. Not all guardrails are built this way, but the ones we make have extra space at the base for exactly that reason.
Okay, now the not-so-great part. Guardrails can also be a total nightmare for a lot of wildlife, and honestly, that’s the part that keeps me up at night. The biggest issue is what biologists call “barrier effect.” Think about it: a long, solid line of metal running for miles. For animals that don’t fly or climb well – like salamanders, ground squirrels, or even badgers – that guardrail is like a wall. They can’t climb over (most of them can’t, anyway), and if there’s no gap or opening, they’re trapped on one side or the other. I talked to a researcher out in Oregon who studied small mammals along a highway we equipped with concrete guardrails a few years ago. They found that those mammals’ movement between forest patches dropped by almost 40% compared to areas without guardrails. That means less mating, less access to food, and over time, smaller populations – which is a big deal for endangered species.
Then there’s the thing I never would’ve guessed: wildlife getting stuck in guardrails. Birds, especially smaller ones like sparrows and finches, often don’t see the metal beams as solid objects and fly right into them. Worse, animals like raccoons or opossums will try to climb over the guardrail to get to food on the other side, but get wedged between the beam and the ground, or tangled in the metal posts. I got a call from a state park worker last year who found a young fox stuck in one of our older, thicker steel posts – they had to cut the post to free it, which meant we learned we needed to adjust the spacing between posts for smaller animals.
Wait, what about larger animals, like bears or moose? Yeah, guardrails don’t stop those guys at all. A moose is big enough that they’ll just step over a standard guardrail, and a bear can climb it if they really want to. But here’s the catch: when a big animal like that is spooked by a car and runs along a guardrail, they’re right next to the road, and that makes drivers more likely to swerve to avoid them. That actually causes more crashes than if there was no guardrail, oddly enough. I saw a study a few years back from the University of Minnesota that found moose-related crashes were 15% higher on stretches with standard guardrails vs. stretches without. Wild, right?
So, here’s what we’re doing about it – because as a supplier, this isn’t someone else’s problem, it’s ours. We’ve been working with wildlife biologists for years to tweak our guardrail designs. First, we added what we call “wildlife openings” to our newer models. These are 3-foot gaps spaced every 500 feet along the guardrail, just big enough for small to medium animals to cross under or over. They’re not just random holes – we place them where we know animals like deer or raccoons naturally cross, based on trail camera data from biologists.
Then there’s the “low-profile” guardrails we developed for wetland areas. These sit closer to the ground, so frogs and turtles can easily slip under, and they’re made of a smoother metal that snakes don’t get caught on as much. We also added “escape rungs” at the ends of guardrails – little metal steps that let animals that do get stuck climb back out instead of being trapped there. That fox I told you about earlier? We fixed the posts after that call, so now the spacing is wider for small animals to get out if they get wedged.
We’ve also started doing site-specific installations, not just one-size-fits-all. Instead of slapping the same guardrail design on every stretch of road, we work with local wildlife teams to map out which species are in the area, where their migration paths are, and adjust the guardrail accordingly. For example, in the Pacific Northwest, where salmon are a big deal (even though they’re in rivers, not roads), we make sure guardrails near stream crossings have extra clearance so flood water can flow through without getting blocked, which keeps salmon habitats healthy. That’s a small touch, but it matters.
I know some people in the industry roll their eyes when we talk about this. They say “guardrails are for cars, not critters” – but I disagree. If we can make guardrails that save drivers and don’t hurt wildlife, that’s a win for everyone. Last year, we did a project in North Carolina for a new stretch of highway going through a forest that’s home to the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker. We worked with biologists to place our low-profile guardrails, and within a year, trail cameras showed woodpeckers using the gaps to move between tree clusters. No more stuck birds, no more blocked movement – that’s the kind of work that makes me proud.
But let’s be real, we’re not perfect. There are still areas where guardrails are a problem – like on highways that go through vast, open grasslands where pronghorn migrate. They run in big groups, and even our wildlife openings might be too small for them. We’re testing taller, sturdier guardrails with wider gaps for those areas, but it’s a work in progress. And we’re still learning how to handle areas with very small, sensitive species like salamanders, which need even smaller gaps that don’t let predators get in.
Here’s the thing that sticks with me: every time I drive down a road I’ve worked on, I look at the guardrails and think, “What’s next?” Can we make them from recycled metal that’s less reflective, so birds don’t fly into them? Can we add markers that are visible to both drivers and animals? I’ve seen those animal-crossing signs on highways, but guardrails are a bigger part of that whole system, right? They shouldn’t just be a barrier – they should be part of the solution.
If you’re a state transportation department, a road contractor, or just someone who works with wildlife and needs guardrails that do more than just keep cars safe – I’m here. We don’t just sell standard guardrails; we custom-design them for each project, with wildlife in mind. We’ve got data, we’ve got biologists on our team, and we’re not afraid to test new ideas. The road doesn’t have to be a divide between humans and animals, and guardrails can be the bridge that makes that happen.
Steel Grating References:
- Forman, R. T. T., et al. (2003). Road Ecology: Science and Solutions. Island Press.
- Trombulak, S. C., & Frissell, C. A. (2000). Review of ecological effects of roads on terrestrial and aquatic communities. Conservation Biology.
- State Wildlife Action Plan Data, 2022. North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission.
- University of Minnesota Extension, 2021. Moose-Vehicle Crash Prevention on Rural Highways.
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