BLOOMINGTON, Minn. — There is a turtle problem in Bloomington.
City officials say every year hundreds of turtles cross Bush Lake Road to access nearby ponds and lakes, putting the turtles and drivers in harm’s way.
“We have had fatalities in Minnesota and surrounding states where people have swerved or stopped abruptly and people get into car crashes,” MnDOT Wildlife Ecologist Christopher Smith says.
The City of Bloomington built a fabric-based fence along parts of Bush Lake Road back in 2019, but city officials say their current fence is wearing out and isn’t a long-term solution to this problem.
Bloomington Water Resources manager Bryan Gruidl said the city is submitting a grant application to the federal government next week to hopefully secure $300,000 in funding to build a one-mile-long chain-link fence along Bush Lake Road.
“There are a lot of turtles that cross this road, especially during certain times of the season,” Gruidl explained.
Other communities have also built turtle fences in recent years.
Smith said turtle fences were recently built in Waconia, Excelsior, Eagan, and other communities through a new research program.
He said MnDOT is currently developing a builder’s guide for communities that wish to build a turtle fence in the future.
“It’s kind of a ready-made plan that can go into a project document that will reduce the engineering cost when a community wants to build one of these fences,” Smith added.
The City of Bloomington is also considering underground tunnels that turtles can use to safely cross Bush Lake Road.
Gruidl said city officials are working with Hennepin County to see if building underground tunnels would be a cost-effective solution to this problem the next time they rebuild Bush Lake Road.
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