EAST BRUNSWICK, N.J., Aug. 1 The New Jersey Turnpike Authority's plan for a wider Garden State Parkway includes tunnels to allow timber rattlesnakes to slither safely under traffic.
Four other threatened or endangered species of reptiles and amphibians found in the Pine Barrens also will be encouraged to use the tunnels, the Star-Ledger of Newark reported. They are the northern pine snake, the Pine Barrens tree frog, the Cope's gray tree frog and the eastern tiger salamander.
The parkway is the main route to the Jersey Shore for millions of people and becomes crowded, especially on summer weekends. The authority plans to add one lane each way for a 17-mile stretch on the eastern edge of the Pine Barrens.
Carleton Montgomery, executive director of the Pinelands Preservation Alliance, said the tunnels will only work if they are short enough and if proper methods are in place to steer animals into them instead of onto the highway.
"There's no harm in trying them because we already divided the habitat of these species by building the Parkway in the first place," he said.
Copyright 2007 by UPI
