Fifty years ago, dinosaur tracks had the power to stop construction projects. When state workers found dinosaur footprints on Rocky Hill, Connecticut dating back to 180 million years ago, all work stopped. Armed security were even called in to guard the 2,000 dinosaur tracks and eventually, Rocky Hill became Dinosaur State Park.

Last month, new dinosaur footprints were discovered in an area which has been set aside for a new health care facility, but paleontological history did not repeat itself this time. Last week, an expert hired by the Public Works Commission declared the tracks insignificant thus paving the way for the construction to begin.

The quality of the footprints were declared inferior to those found on Rocky Hill because the expert says they are set on shale. Shale is a fine-grained sedimentary rock whose original constituents were clay and mud. Unlike prints set on harder stone, the newly discovered shale prints break easily.

However, not everyone agrees with the decision. "The state treats tracks as if the giant reptiles were still making them," says Hartford Courant, "The dinosaurs who made the latest set of tracks apparently lived in a bad part of town - the reptilian equivalent of a ghetto."

The Dinosaur State Park in Connecticut is one of the largest dinosaur track sites in North America featuring early Jurassic fossil tracks made some 200 million years ago.