This California City Built a Tunnel Specifically for Toads
We may earn money or products from the companies mentioned in this post. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you ... you're just helping re-supply our family's travel fund.
Davis’s famous toad passage is a wildlife crossing built in 1995 to help local amphibians get beneath a busy road rather than face traffic. A wildlife crossing is a passage that lets animals cross beneath a road instead of entering traffic lanes. The project’s purpose and its proven effectiveness are separate questions.
The landmark sits in Davis, California, where an unusual roadside feature draws curious visitors and camera-toting fans. It can add a quirky stop to a trip or a list of California tourist attractions. Its history is more complicated than its name suggests, because the project’s intent and its documented use are not the same thing.
Key Takeaways
- The passage was built in 1995.
- It was meant to help amphibians avoid traffic.
- Its visible entrance is beside the post office.
- A camera recorded no crossings in 2006.
- That result does not prove lifetime nonuse.
Where Is the Davis California Toad Tunnel, and What Is Its Design?
The crossing runs beneath the Pole Line Road overpass, linking the area around the highway with Core Area Pond. That full route matters because the visible opening beside the post office shows only one point. The entrance is not the whole passage.
The route beneath Pole Line Road
Built in 1995, the toad tunnel was meant to guide amphibians between habitat areas and the wetland at Core Area Pond. The Pole Line crossing passes below the road overpass that bridges I-80. It was intended to keep amphibians out of traffic on the busy highway.
The post office-side opening is easy to spot, but it does not show where the entire passage runs. The entrance toad tunnel view can be misleading: the opening offers no view of the underground route. Visitors looking for unusual California tourist attractions should use Pole Line Road as their main locator.
A narrow corrugated-steel passage
The passage is 220 feet long, six inches tall, and made from corrugated steel. At just six inches high, it is a narrow route beneath the road. The $14,000 project cost covered an unusual piece of local infrastructure.
A 220-foot passage can be easy to miss when its opening is the only part visitors can see.
The Pole Line Road overpass is a clearer landmark than the small entrance beside the post office. Use the Pole Line Road overpass as the main locator rather than assuming the decorative entrance shows the passage’s entire route.
What Makes Toad Hollow a Local Landmark?
The entrance beside the post office turns a plain piece of drainage infrastructure into a tiny amphibian-themed village. Toad Hollow gives the opening a playful face, with small handmade buildings arranged beside the Davis post office. The miniature village is a local landmark, not proof of wildlife use.
A miniature village beside the post office
Toad Hollow grew around the visible entrance to the longer passage. Its small buildings invite a closer look, while the wetland route stays out of sight below ground. The village’s charm comes from its scale and details, not from any claim about how many animals used the tunnel.
- A toad bar
- A toad outhouse
- A toad hotel
- Miniature homes
The entrance toad display feels like a small piece of roadside America, tucked beside an everyday public building. Ted Puntillo Sr. created the miniature village and later wrote and illustrated The Toads of Davis. His book helped give the scene a story beyond its tiny storefronts.
A story that traveled beyond Davis
The Daily Show featured the tunnel in 1998, taking its odd charm to a national television audience. In late 1999, the walkway at the northeast entrance to the Davis Food Co-op on G Street became Toad Lane. That name carried the toad theme into another part of town.
These local stories helped make Toad Hollow part of Davis identity. The post office entrance gives visitors a clear place to find it, while Toad Lane shows how the idea reached beyond the original site. The miniature buildings are the visible landmark; the animal passage remains their underlying purpose.
Did the Crossing Help Amphibians, and What Came After?
The strongest direct monitoring result is simple: a trail camera installed in 2006 recorded no crossings at the original tunnel. That result is narrow, since a camera records what passes within its view during monitoring. No recorded crossing does not prove that no animal ever used the passage.
What monitoring and local ecology show
Davis’s Urban Wildlife Program placed the camera at the tunnel in 2006. In October 2026, spokesperson Barbara Archer said the passage remained in place but was no longer maintained. Wildlife rarely, if ever, used it, she said.
Native chorus frogs and western toads were scarce, especially across most urban and agricultural areas. Scarcity makes a frog tunnel’s job harder when few animals live nearby. California supports varied wildlife across its habitats, including species described in this guide to California snakes.
How the Bretton Woods plan changed the design
The Bretton Woods drainage plan was part of a development under construction in August 2022, after six years of talks with Davis city staff. It was a separate project, not a redesign of the original passage. The plan included four critter-customized tunnels, with two near Risling Drive and two in the Bretton Woods Channel.
The Bretton Woods tunnels belonged to a separate drainage plan, not the original Pole Line Road crossing.
The plan described a more detailed design for the two tunnels beside Covell Boulevard. Their floors and raised walkways were meant to give small animals different surfaces inside the passage.
| Feature | Count and length | Design or placement |
|---|---|---|
| Covell Boulevard tunnels | Two tunnels, 110 feet each | Near Risling Drive, planned at 4 feet tall |
| Covell tunnel floor | Two tunnels | 6-inch hand-poured concrete stamped like cobblestones |
| Wooden boardwalk | One boardwalk, 110 feet long | 18 inches wide, along walls about halfway up |
The camera gives a useful record of what it captured during its monitoring. A camera that records no crossings shows what it captured during its monitoring, not proof that no animal ever passed through.
Conclusion
Davis’s toad tunnel remains a memorable example of a wildlife idea whose purpose is clearer than its measured success. Toad Hollow adds local character, while the camera record offers a limited view of the passage’s use.
Visitors can see the miniature village near the Davis post office from public access. Stay outside the fenced wetland boundary to protect the site and avoid entering restricted areas. If you visit, look for Toad Hollow near the post office and stay outside the fenced wetland.
