It's looking at you.
It’s looking at you. Public Domain

In Ontario, Canada, between Parry Sound and Sudbury, crews are hard at work expanding Highway 69 from two lanes to four, work which has been planned for years.

But as they make their way south, the CBC reports, they’re increasingly running into a noisy threat: rattlesnakes. Specifically, they’re running into Massassauga rattlesnakes, which are found across North America but especially in this pocket of southern Ontario, which is particularly hospitable for the pit vipers.

So far, no one has been bit, but crews have been warned to keep an eye out, along with instructions on what to do if one encounters a snake (mainly: freeze, before slowly retreating).

Workers are also building accommodations for the snakes themselves, lest the construction disrupt their habitat. These include passages beneath the road, so snakes won’t have to slither over.

But even if you are bit, you’re probably going to survive. The last deaths from Massassauga bites in Ontario occurred decades ago, information which doesn’t really help people who are unnerved by the mere sight of snakes to begin with.