SANTA ROSA, Calif. -- Delays created by a tiny creature may soon be over for a big construction project in the North Bay.

The area of Santa Rosa is considered critical habitat for the endangered California tiger salamander, but now work is underway to keep them safe.

A detour of sorts for the amphibian went up Thursday. It's part of the plan to guide the migration of the salamanders to their new home.

Before any work can be done to build a park here federal regulators are requiring the city to safely move tiger salamander from the property.

City biologists hope the salamanders will move from their current location across the street to vernal pools where they will live permanently.

“Basically we're providing a safe corridor for them to cross,” Santa Rosa environmental specialist Sheri Emerson. “Across the street here are protected lands that salamanders are known to populate."

Scientists said the salamanders will only move during heavy rain at night, so the city has placed a silt fence around the property and will block off part of Fresno Ave. until January to accommodate the process.

The protected lands border the housing tract now on the site of a former navy airfield. When the houses were built in the 1990s residents were promised a park.

Construction has been delayed for years for a variety of reasons. The tiger salamander migration is the latest hold up.

Local resident Al Nystrom who lives nearby said he doesn't mind waiting.

"They're going to provide recreation for the local residents and they're going to also be mindful of the previous residents as well," said Nystrom.

If the migration is successful, the city plans to build the new park this coming spring.

"The residents are going to love this park,” said Santa Rosa city inspector Richard Nosker. “They’ve been looking forward to it for a long time."

The park will cost $1.2 million to build. the protections for the salamander are about $25,000 of that cost.