Critters shun path smart people built to keep them safe from traffic

Davis, Calif., about 70 miles northeast of San Francisco, is a pretty remarkable place.

The home of the University of California-Davis, the town is known for being socially and environmentally conscious. In 2006, CNN and Money magazine ranked Davis as the second most highly educated city in the United States, based on the percentage of residents with graduate degrees.

The people of Davis are smart and their hearts are filled with goodwill towards all.

But not only smart folks like living in Davis

The city was, at one time, also home to toads. A lot of toads.

And the toads like to travel about the city and in particular enjoyed crossing Pole Line Road. Across the road stands a drainage pond with plenty of water and, of course, tasty insects.

The road sees a lot of traffic. And toads, one should remember, are not the fastest of critters.

So the mayor and people of Davis, appalled by the constant and predictable carnage, wanted to save the many, many toads that were flattened by cars driven by those who either couldn’t see the toads or didn’t much care anyway.

So back in 1996 they built a tunnel under the road for the toads to use.

It was quite a community project, lovingly designed and built for $14,000.

The tunnel is 21 inches wide, 18 inches tall and stretches 220 feet,

The community was proud of what it had done. The toad tunnel made national headlines. A local citizen even built a little toad village around the tunnel. The tunnel started attracting tourists.

Which was fortunate, because it didn’t attract toads.

Ever. A Davis wildlife resource specialist says there is no record of any toad ever using the tunnel.

It seems the tunnel was long and dark. Toads don’t like that.

It was also made of corrugated steel. It got very hot.

Toads don’t like that either.

Apparently no one in the second most highly educated city in America bothered to find out if toads would actually use the thing before building it.

But their hearts were in the right place. They tried.

Too bad.

The toads kept hopping across the road.

And now, a dozen years later, there are no more toads in that part of Davis.

But the tunnel remains, ready for any toads who might want to come back and brave the dark and the heat to safely cross the road.

Who knows.? Maybe the next batch of toads will have learned their lesson.