Highway 99 Project Is Digging Up The Dirt On Rodent Activity

SEATTLE, Sept. 11, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- If you own a business or work near the Highway 99 Viaduct you should prepare yourself for an influx of unwanted customers – rodents and cockroaches. The Seattle waterfront is no stranger to these nasty pests and as the Highway 99 tunnel project gains steam, this massive undertaking is forcing pests to find new places to hide, feed, and unleash their damaging and public health behavior.

Tacoma-based Sprague Pest Solutions is encouraging business owners in the "pest impact zone" (For specific zone locations visit www.spraguepest.com/seattletunnel) and surrounding downtown areas to review their property's pest defense plan to guard against Norway and roof rat, mice, and American cockroach infestations.

The potential harm these pests present include contaminating and spoiling food supplies, transmission of disease and bacteria, and structural damage to buildings and electrical wiring.

"Anytime a major construction project, like the Highway 99 tunnel, gets going pests are going to have their harborage areas disturbed and will seek new sources for food and shelter," says Jeff Weier, Sprague's long-time technical director and board certified entomologist. "The best defense in these cases is prevention. Having the proper exclusion work done now will save you time, money, hassles and potentially major pest problems down the road."

Seattle has experienced similar large surges in rodent and pest activity during the demolition of buildings to make way for the construction of the Columbia Center, the Seattle Bus Tunnel project of the late 1980s and the demolition of the Kingdome.

Sprague Pest Solutions is adopting a novel approach to spread the word to local businesses by employing a bike billboard campaign. The campaign will kick off on September 13 with bike messengers, working in groups of three, towing A-frame signs through downtown and the Seattle waterfront to raise awareness to the situation.

The signs will feature a customized ad campaign using catch phrases such as "Save Your Building! Ratpocalypse is coming!"; "Sven the Rat is coming to your neighborhood!!" and "Prevent the destruction – Call Sprague."

The two-wheel marketers will also hand out information cards encouraging business owners and residents to follow Sprague's resident rodent expert, Sven the Rat, on Twitter @Ratpocalypse, and to act early to prevent rodent and pest infestations.  The bike billboard campaign will run through the end of September.

For more information on how to protect your business from rodent and pest infestations as a result of the Highway 99 project, contact Sprague Pest Solutions at 206/323-5660, e-mail at [email protected] or at www.spraguepest.com/seattletunnel.

Sprague Pest Solutions, founded in 1926, delivers innovative pest solutions to clients throughout Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Colorado and parts of Montana, Wyoming and Nevada. Sprague is a Copesan Services partner.

SOURCE Sprague Pest Solutions