Vehicular traffic is temporarily being banned on Snake Road in the downstate Illinois city of Jonesboro so, you guessed it, snakes can cross without getting run over.

The road that winds, snakelike, for two and a half miles through the Shawnee National Forest will be closed to all vehicles starting Sunday and continuing until late October.

It’s not just snakes, either. Frogs, turtles, newts and salamanders also are starting to migrate across the road, also known as LaRue Road, from swamps to the limestone bluffs where they spend the winter.

Some of the creatures belong to endangered species. So the U.S. Forest Service takes pains to ensure their safety.

People can still walk the road while it’s closed to cars but are prohibited from collecting or handling the species.

The road — which will be closed again in March as the animals head back to the swamp — was open year-round until 1972. But because many migrating snakes and other animals died as a result, the Forest Service began closing it for two months in the fall and and again in the spring to protect them.

According to the Forest Service, the migrating animals in the area, which is known as the LaRue-Pine Hills and has become a popular attraction, include:

Northern red-bellied snakes, eastern hognose snakes, western ribbon snakes, spotted salamanders, slimy salamanders, midland water snakes, eastern rough green snakes, midwest worm snakes, ringneck snakes, marbled salamanders, Blanchard’s cricket frogs, eastern grey treefrogs and five-lined skinks.