How does a highway float on water?
A true story about I-80, told for kids 6-8.
Read along
Hey, is our car driving on a road right now, or on a bridge? Surprise! We are on a bridge more than three miles long. It's called the Yolo Causeway, and it carries our road high above the land, like a giant stretchy ribbon. Look out the window.
Do you see fields, or do you see water? In rainy winters, when the Sacramento River gets way too full, people let the extra water spill onto this land on purpose. Splash! The fields turn into a huge shallow lake, so the city of Sacramento stays nice and dry. Imagine driving straight through a lake.
Our car would need flippers and a snorkel! And here's a sleepy surprise. Tucked in little cracks under this bridge, a huge crowd of bats snoozes all day. On summer evenings they pour out, flap flap flap, and zoom off to gobble up bugs.
Quiz the back seat
Why does the land under this bridge turn into a lake some winters?
Show the answer
People let extra river water spill there on purpose. On purpose! This big flood area is called the Yolo Bypass, and it gives the river's extra water somewhere safe to go, so the city of Sacramento stays dry.
3 fun facts
- The Yolo Causeway is a bridge more than three miles long that carries I-80.
- The Yolo Bypass is the flood area under the bridge, where people let extra Sacramento River water spill in wet winters to keep Sacramento dry.
- A large colony of bats roosts in cracks under the bridge during the day and flies out to eat bugs on summer evenings.
Questions kids ask
- Why is I-80 on a bridge near Sacramento?
- The highway crosses the Yolo Bypass, land that floods on purpose in wet winters, so the road rides up high on a long bridge.
- How long is the Yolo Causeway?
- The Yolo Causeway is more than three miles long.
- Do bats live under the Yolo Causeway?
- Yes, a huge crowd of bats sleeps in cracks under the bridge and flies out on summer evenings to eat bugs.
For grown-ups
Written with AI from public sources, then checked claim by claim against the sources below before it was published; stories that don't pass stay off the app and this site. Narration is pre-recorded, and nothing you do on this page is tied to your kids.
Sources
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yolo_Causeway
- californiawaterblog.com/2017/02/20/yolo-bypass-the-inland-sea-of-sacramento
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yolo_Bypass
- ppic.org/blog/the-yolo-bypass-its-a-floodplain-its-farmland-its-an-ecosystem
- spk.usace.army.mil/Missions/Civil-Works/Yolo-Bypass
- yolobasin.org/bat-talk-tours
- wildlife.ca.gov/COQA/why-do-bats-live-under-the-i-80-yolo-causeway-near-davis
- kqed.org/news/12092538/under-a-sacramento-bridge-californias-largest-urban-bat-colony-takes-flight-every-night
Roads
Town and county names: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0).