Annual salamander migration begins in East Brunswick
Police will close some roads during overnight hours.
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There's one traffic jam that drivers in East Brunswick might actually want to stop for — one involving hundreds of tiny travelers on a slow journey that could take weeks.
The annual salamander migration is underway in Middlesex County. Over the next few weeks, East Brunswick police will close Beekman Road from 6 p.m. to 5 a.m. between Church Lane in East Brunswick and Davidson’s Mill Road in South Brunswick to allow for a safe salamander crossing.
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“The salamanders cross the road because they live in the woods on one side of the road and move to a breeding pond on the opposite side of the road. Once the salamanders are done laying eggs, they will sporadically cross the road back to the woods over the course of a month,” the East Brunswick Police Department said in a social media post during last year’s migration.
In Sussex County, the New Jersey State Director of The Nature Conservancy says they have a different method at Waterloo Village. "We have volunteers with flashlights on their heads and we go out and what we do is we escort the salamanders. Just being there and seeing the excitement carrying these salamanders. It's just a fun thing to do " says Barbara Brummer, New Jersey State Director of The Nature Conservancy
The migration usually happens on warm, rainy nights and can begin anytime in late winter or early spring, police said.
According to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, when it’s not breeding season, some salamanders occupy underground tunnels and burrows or find shelter beneath logs and piles of leaves.
For the next few weeks, motorists are advised to use Cranbury Road or Fresh Ponds Road as alternate routes. Police ask that drivers slow down and use caution throughout the area.
