Pest treatment is option for bridge over Ware River

The historic covered bridge that spans the Ware River and connects Hardwick’s Gilbertville with Ware is being evaluated by an exterminator for powder post beetles.

Guy L. George of Premier Pest Control Inc. of Chicopee said his company had been asked to estimate the cost of evaluating the severity of the beetle problem and treating the wood bridge with an environmentally friendly product to prevent further infestation.

Mr. George inspected the bridge yesterday with local officials, members of the bridge committees in the two towns, state Rep. Anne M. Gobi, D-Spencer, and state Sen. Stephen M. Brewer, D-Barre.

The towns closed the bridge in August 2002 when the state deemed the structure was unsafe for motor vehicle traffic.

Lynn Williams, area manager for Nisus Corp. of Rockford, Tenn., a company that specializes in pest management products, said the product most likely to be used would be Bora-Care, produced by Nisus. “It’s applied to the wood and absorbed into the wood, and the active ingredient, boric acid, is less toxic than common table salt,” he explained.

Mr. Williams said because boron occurs naturally, Bora-Care is a likely product to use on the bridge. “Nonetheless, I’m sure that when it’s applied precautions will be taken to see that it doesn’t end up in the river,” he said.

Mr. Williams said Bora-Care works on the beetle in the larval and adult stages.

Ron Schwalb, national technical manager for Nisus, said the most likely variety of post beetle at work on the covered bridge has a lifespan of one to two years and spends most of that period in the larval stage. As an adult, it is less than a quarter-inch long and comes out at night.

The beetle is rarely seen for these reasons, he said, but its presence is confirmed by the pinholes on the surface of the wood.

The bridge, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, was built in 1887 using wood support beams, and last year the Massachusetts Historic Commission agreed to replace the wood beams with steel beams.

Using steel beams will increase the weight limit to allow for 15-ton loads, considerably more weight than the 4.8 tons that using wood beams would permit, according to town officials.

Before the bridge was closed, it had a posted weight limit of 6 tons.

Mr. Brewer said he would approach the district highway engineer and see if the pest control program could be included with overall work to strengthen the bridge. “The bridge will not lose any of its historical ambiance, but it will be more useful to both the communities of Ware and Hardwick once this project is completed,” he said.

“The commonwealth and the federal government will have close to three-quarters of a million (dollars) invested in this property, and for short money they could include pest control measures that could keep this bridge sound for another hundred years,” the senator said.