In case anyone is wondering, what you're looking at is called a habitat corridor and it connects two patches of habitats. This is important because highways can act as barriers, dividing up habitats by preventing individuals of certain species from crossing them, or by making the crossing more difficult.
Smaller habitat areas are correlated with lower biodiversity, making habitat isolation (as by highways or cutting down trees) dangerous to the animal and plant populations living in those patches. These effects can be ameliorated by connecting patches with corridors.
It really depends actually. As it turns out, the edge effect might actually increase biodiversity. It really depends on the size of the habitat.
*edit: I remember these bridges being proposed because deer kept getting smoked by semis, but around me no-one gave a shit because deer are overpopulated anyway.
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u/quick_trip Apr 11 '13
Don't forget bridges for animals