Like many people, we were saddened to hear that one of the most famous grizzly bears in the world, Grizzly 399, was hit by a car and died while trying to cross the highway in the Snake River Canyon just south of Grand Teton National Park. For the last 28 years, this matriarch roamed Grand Teton National Park and the broader Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, often foraging alongside or crossing roads with a string of cubs in tow. Her visibility attracted people from around the world who delighted in watching her and her cubs and made her an ambassador for both grizzly bears and the importance of parks and public lands in recovering the species. Her absence will be deeply felt.

While the death of 399 made national headlines, most deaths on our highways do not. Less than two weeks before 399’s ill-fated encounter with a car, another female grizzly, this one about 3 years old, was struck and killed when she tried to cross U.S. Highway 2 a few miles east of Marias Pass. Since 2004, at least 39 grizzly bears have been killed along U.S. 2 and the adjacent BNSF Railway between Browning and Columbia Falls, making it one of the deadliest areas in Montana for grizzly bears. Like the young bear killed in October, many of the victims were also young females or cubs who never got to leave their mark on the population through generations of cubs the way 399 did.

And it’s not just grizzly bears that die at unacceptable levels on our roadways and railways. As if anyone who drives our highways needs a reminder of the toll they take on all our wildlife, not just grizzlies. Montana regularly ranks in the top two nationwide for the number of wildlife-vehicle collisions annually, with more than 3,200 wildlife related crashes reported annually to the Highway Patrol (a certain undercount).

Our iconic wildlife, our people, and our visitors deserve safer roads. For too long, Montana has lagged our western neighbors in investing in the types of wildlife crossing structures and other highway design features that substantially reduce the frequency of wildlife-vehicle collisions, collisions that take a toll on both people and wildlife, while helping animals cross the road. Many of these same mitigation measures have proved effective for railways as well.

Thankfully, this is starting to change. Montana is finally starting to make crossing structures and other wildlife accommodations more of a priority in highway projects. Montana recently launched the Montana Wildlife and Transportation Partnership to advance standalone projects that support safe wildlife passage. The Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) recently secured some of the $350 million dollars available from the federal Wildlife Vehicle Collision Pilot Program for feasibility studies and construction costs created in the bipartisan Infrastructure Investments and Jobs Act. As visitation to Glacier and other federal lands and gateway communities grows, the future calls for continued investments in on-the-ground solutions that reduce vehicle collisions with wildlife and ensure the safety of drivers who live, work, and recreate on these lands.

To keep up the momentum, the state Legislature should step up and provide dedicated funding to MDT to prioritize wildlife crossings. We also need Congress to provide dedicated funding, such as by renewing the Wildlife Vehicle Collision Pilot Program in the upcoming reauthorization of the transportation bill or expanding opportunities by passing the bipartisan Wildlife Movement Through Partnerships Act. Such moves are common sense solutions to make our highways safer for people and wildlife. Recent polling shows 77% of Montanans support additional investment in wildlife crossing structures.

Improving safe passage for grizzly bears across the central Crown is critical to the recovery of the species as well as the conservation of many of other iconic species like mountain goats, moose, elk, and wolverines, according to multiple scientific studies, reports, and wildlife agency planning documents. Years of research by state and federal biologists have helped identify some of the most likely spots for wildlife crossings. By putting this knowledge and these investments together we could avoid the deaths of bears like this in the future.

Sarah Lundstrum is Glacier Senior Program Manager at the National Parks Conservation Association. Peter Metcalf is Executive Director at the Glacier-Two Medicine Alliance.