I visited the infamous HS2 'Bat Tunnel'
A reporter visits the controversial HS2 'Bat Tunnel' — a specially designed 2.5-mile tunnel built to protect bats during the construction of the UK's high-speed rail project. Despite extensive measures costing millions, many question whether the tunnel will actually work, as the project faces delays and budget overruns.
Background
High Speed 2 (HS2) is a major UK rail project intended to connect London, the Midlands, and the North, but it has been plagued by huge cost overruns, delays, and political controversy. A 2.5-mile bat tunnel (formally a "bat mitigation structure") near the village of Calvert, Buckinghamshire, has become a famous symbol of the project's excesses: it was built at an estimated cost of £100 million specifically to protect a small population of rare barbastelle bats whose habitat was disturbed by HS2's construction. Critics point out that environmental protections for the bats cost far more than other rail projects' entire wildlife budgets, and that the tunnel may not even be used by the bats as intended. Martin Robbins (author of The Lay Scientist blog and former editor at The Guardian's environment desk) visited the tunnel to see for himself what all the fuss is about.