City estimates pigeon poop clean-up to cost over $600K

Crews have started the work of ridding the Sid Buckwold Bridge of five decades’ worth of pigeon poop.

The dirty job started last week with the contractor installing scaffolding under the bridge for gaining access for the cleanup.

Pigeons roosting under the Sid Buckwold Bridge in Saskatoon on May 6, 2019 (Chris Vandenbreekel/650 CKOM)

The City estimates 348 metric tonnes of pigeon droppings have collected in the utility cavities of the bridge, equivalent to 232 mid-sized vehicles being parked on the bridge at all times.

“The feces removal is underway and while the City does not control this work, it’s our understanding the contractor wanted to have it completed roughly in the next couple of months,” project manager Todd Grabowski said in an email.

“According to the terms of the contract though, this work could be done over the two-year duration of the project,” he said.

As for the cost, the City said they’ve allowed $640,000 for the cleanup work.

“This is based on an estimate of 800 m3 of feces with a unit cost of $800 per m3, which works to $640,000,” Grabowski explained.

In addition to the bridge cleanup, the City plans to euthanize the flock of pigeons and install barriers to make it harder for birds to nest on the structure in the future.