New bridge takes flight.

This article describes how officials in Sacramento County, California, have successfully addressed the challenge of rebuilding the Franklin Boulevard Bridge without disturbing a colony of Mexican free-tail bats living in the area. While federal regulation did not require the critters' habitat to be replaced when the bridge was rebuilt, local and state officials decided the bats were worth incorporating in the new design. From March to October of each year, the bats would roost in the bridge's trestle to mate, give birth and nurture their pups. With an unoccupied weight of 540 pounds each, the 4-foot-square, 5-foot-tall bat condos are supported 15 feet above the ground to prevent flooding and to allow departing bats to fall and catch air in their wings before taking flight.