The First Bear Ever Just Crossed the Snoqualmie Pass Wildlife Overpass

Hooray! It's a first, and it's really pretty amazing. WSDOT has been recording wildlife using the crossing since 2018. Out of 9,390 total wildlife visitors on the I-90 Snoqualmie Pass Wildlife overcrossing, the very first bear was seen on Tuesday, June 28th.

Researchers at Banff National Park reported similar bear-haviors on their wildlife crossings. That is: Bears take several years to warm up to these crossings, but they do eventually start using them. ☺️ We’re hoping this means more visits in the future!

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Can you imagine? This is amazing! In total, WSDOT has recorded 38,321 wildlife crossings on the overpass and underpass structures along I-90 since 2014. The crossings included:

• 7,967 elk
• 13,525 deer
• 3,216 coyotes
• 6 cougar (5 of which occurred in 2023)

The Snoqualmie Pass East Project Is Along15-Miles of I-90 between Hyak and Easton

The project will eventually have 20 wildlife crossings to reduce the number of wild-life vehicle collisions and to improve ecological connectivity. When new structures are constructed, it can take years for different species to finally discover them and trust using them. Seeing this bear is PROMISING.

Between 2014-2022, one cougar was detected using a wildlife crossing in the project area (2020), but in 2023, five cougar crossings were documented. For context, there's likely only a handful of cougars whose home ranges overlap the project area due to territoriality. These cougar crossings continued in 2024, indicating increased comfort with using the structures.

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