Summary: Highway, bridge, and right-of-way construction and maintenance costs continue to escalate and traditional highway management practices fragment natural ecosystems, facilitate highways’ function as corridors for the spread of invasive non-native species, and inadvertently attract white-tailed deer. A new paradigm is needed. Reduced mowing may encourage the return of a natural ecosystem replete with native plants including grasses and wildflowers and possibly discourage white-tailed deer while saving taxpayers’ money or enabling the diversion of funds to other highway projects. However, public complaints of weedier roadsides is a significant factor in the frequency of mowing, so a survey was undertaken to gain a better understanding of their willingness to accept a weedier right of way (ROW) if it saved funds, resulted in wildflowers making the highways more attractive, hid litter, and made the roadsides safer by reducing deer presence. The study found no significant difference in the height of vegetation 3 weeks after each mowing between control plots that were mowed 4 times per year and plots mowed only once in respective uplands or lowlands near bridges. Native plants increased in plots mowed only once per year. Deer preferred the frequently mowed plots where clovers and vetches had been seeded, the existing standard management practice. The greatest numbers of deer were observed in the lowland plots along streams. Increasing the carrying capacity of the lowlands with more extensive plantings of clover and vetch may attract deer away from the uplands and encourage them to browse in the lowlands and use the area beneath bridges to cross the highways, thus making the ROWs safer. The public perception survey found strong support for wildflowers on ROWs and a distaste for litter. Further, respondents indicated they would tolerate a less manicured ROW if it saved money, made the roads safer, and/