MAINE MONITOR • February 2, 2026
In 2021, the Maine Department of Transportation partnered with federal and state wildlife agencies to install a wide culvert designed to help turtles, including the endangered Blanding’s turtle, safely cross a notoriously deadly section of Route 236 in Eliot. In the years since, tens of thousands of people have driven over this wildlife crossing, most of them unaware it is even there. And dozens of species, both shelled and nonshelled, have taken advantage of the underpass. During a presentation last Tuesday, biologists at the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife reported that the turtle tunnel — the first of its kind in Maine — is working.