Nutty Narrows, the squirrel bridge

When human progress collides with nature and wild habitats, it is necessary to make safe movement for "indigenous" animals. We have often seen overpasses intended for the safe passage of large wild animals across roads, but the bridge for squirrels is really a small miracle.

Nutty Narrows is located in the American city of Longview and bridges the road to Olympia near the Civic Center roundabout. On one side of the bridge is the city park where the squirrels live, and on the other is the Park Plaza office building. Curious squirrels often ran across the road not realizing that they were in mortal danger on the road that crossed the park. After many squirrel deaths, the owner of the construction company Amos J. Peters has devised a way to help them, but also to create a new city attraction.

Squirrel bridges have been made before, but they were ordinary thick ropes stretched across roads. In 1963, Peters built a real small suspension bridge, over 18 meters long, and organized the grand opening, with appropriate speech and music by a local orchestra. It cost $ 1,000. Numerous world media paid attention to him, and Nutty Narrows became a city attraction.

It is interesting that the employees of the Park Plaza office building built a specific friendly relationship with the squirrels from the park, and made them a "nut bar" in their yard, which they supplement with fruits from nature every day. During the Christmas holidays, Longview city officials decorate the middle of the bridge with a small ornate Christmas tree. Nutty Narrows has been renovated several times over the past half century, and since 2014 it has been on the National Register of Historic Places in the United States.