In Alta Floresta, a small Amazon town in northern Mato Grosso, eight rope bridges installed in 2024 now span the road leading into town, and the results after 15 months are striking. Camera traps recorded about 15,000 safe crossings by tree-dwelling animals, including several monkey species, and not a single roadkill. The bridges come from Projeto Reconecta, founded by biologist Fernanda Abra, and are now being expanded in other parts of Brazil and in Suriname. Brazil's National Department of Transport Infrastructure has also named the design its recommended highway standard, which could bring similar crossings to roads across the country. If the early results hold, a few ropes strung above the asphalt may prove one of the simplest ways to keep roads from cutting through the forest canopy that wildlife depends on.
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