[0:04] - The City of Bloomington recently replaced a storm sewer [0:07] pipe that crosses underneath East Bush Lake Road. [0:10] The reason there's a pipe here in the first place is [0:12] to stop the road from flooding. [0:14] There's wetlands on both sides, [0:15] so if water level gets high on one side or the other, [0:18] it can equalize between the pipe, [0:20] or if the whole system has high water, it can flow out [0:23] to an overflow just downstream. [0:25] The new pipe continues to serve that purpose, [0:28] but this one has a special ability. [0:30] It can save animals and improve road safety. [0:33] The city has known for some time [0:35] that East Bush Lake Road is a hot spot for roadkill, [0:39] especially for turtles. [0:41] And this might be a bigger deal than you think. [0:43] When large older turtles are killed, [0:45] those are the prime egg laying turtles. [0:48] So that has a pretty big ripple effect [0:50] across the population. [0:51] Also, when turtles are just always getting run over by cars, [0:54] the average age of the population goes down, [0:57] so there's fewer individuals that actually reach [0:59] that prime reproductive age and size. [1:02] Turtles on the street are also an issue for road safety. [1:05] People don't like running over turtles. [1:08] So, when they see one in the street, all [1:09] of a sudden when they're going 40 miles per hour, [1:11] they either are gonna stop really [1:13] quickly or they're gonna swerve. [1:14] They're gonna swerve into incoming traffic, [1:16] or they're gonna swerve on the shoulder [1:17] where we're gonna have walkers and bikers going by. [1:20] A turtle roadkill study found that across all [1:24] of East Bush Lake Road, this spot, the spot where [1:27] that old pipe was, [1:29] has the highest turtle mortality in the entire section. [1:32] This is one a problem because it's killing turtles, [1:34] but also it's very concerning [1:36] because it's right next to the entry [1:38] of the Richardson Nature Center where a lot [1:40] of people are turning in and out. [1:41] So putting us all together, [1:43] the city came up with a solution. [1:45] We knew that one, we had an existing pipe [1:48] that needed to be replaced. [1:49] Two, we had a natural concentration of turtles [1:53] that were crossing the road [1:54] in this section. Three, we had a need [1:56] for increased road safety. [1:58] And four, there was a scheduled re-road surfacing project [2:02] that's gonna be done by the county. [2:04] So our solution, we created a wildlife tunnel, [2:07] we like to call it a turtle tunnel, [2:09] that passes below the road. [2:11] And we did this by expanding the size [2:14] of the replacement storm water pipe [2:16] and adding radial grates at the street level [2:19] that allow sunlight to shine down into the structure. [2:22] Wildlife crossings like this actually work pretty well when [2:25] they're installed in the right place [2:27] and in the future, we're still gonna add some barriers [2:29] to direct small animals and turtles into the tunnel, [2:32] but the tunnel itself will never fully remove the [2:35] possibility that turtles still might cross the road. [2:38] So we still need your help. [2:40] Drive safely, drive slowly [2:42] and always keep an eye out for turtles.