Bloomington builds tunnel under East Bush Lake Road to help turtles cross street safely

CBS News

2 days ago

A newly finished road project in Bloomington, Minnesota, is making the way more safe for drivers — and reptiles.
You'll notice driving down East Bush Lake Road is a lot smoother, but you won't notice what's under the pavement.
"With the wetlands on both sides, just having bodies of water nearby each other, that's going to be the most common place for turtles to move back and forth," said Jack Distel, water resource specialist for Bloomington.
A study from the Minnesota Zoo found this segment of the road near the Richardson Nature Center was the worst for turtles, with hundreds hit by cars each year. Instead of crossing on the road, now they have a better option to cross under with a new turtle tunnel, an animal-friendly storm drain.
"Expanded sizing and adding the radial grates on top for sunlight to enter the tunnel. It's always going to be kind of full of water, unless we're in a big drought, and it drops down, but they'll swim through it. So they don't want to go into a really dark tunnel that they can't see the end of," Distel said.
With the county already planning to resurface the road, he said the city saw the opportunity to help, and rushed to make it happen — saving money and the metro turtle population in the process.
"If we don't have those primary egg layers, you start to get this kind of dip in the population, and that could get below a threshold of replacement value," Distel said.
Right now, there's no guarantee the turtles will opt for the tunnel, but the city's work isn't done.
"The future project is going to be adding barriers along the roadside. And that'll direct them, because they'll kind of hit that and turn, and that'll take them to the tunnel itself," Distel said.
As they get ready for hibernation in the coming months, turtles will be on the move again. Drivers are urged to be on the lookout and to slow down and only help them cross if it won't impede traffic.