Pest Control in Highbridge, Bronx
Highbridge climbs the bluffs above the Harlem River on the western side of the South Bronx, bounded roughly by Jerome Avenue, the Major Deegan Expressway and the Cross Bronx Expressway, with Yankee Stadium just to the south. Its streets are hilly and sometimes connected by public stairways, and the views across the river toward Washington Heights are among the best in the borough. Ogden Avenue, University Avenue and Nelson Avenue carry local shops, and the 4 train runs along the Jerome Avenue elevated line with stops at 161st, 167th and 170th Streets. The population is predominantly Dominican and African American, with many families in large prewar apartment buildings.
Also known as: High Bridge.
About Highbridge
The neighborhood is named for the High Bridge, completed in 1848 to carry the Croton Aqueduct's water supply across the Harlem River into Manhattan. It is the oldest standing bridge in New York City and reopened to pedestrians and cyclists in 2015 after decades of closure. Highbridge was a small village of Irish laborers and country retreats until the Jerome Avenue subway arrived in 1917, after which apartment buildings rapidly covered the hillsides.
Common Pest Problems in Highbridge
Highbridge's hillside apartment buildings often have basements cut into rock and retaining walls that stay damp, and their boiler rooms and trash areas become magnets for rats and mice. Many buildings date to the 1920s, so worn pointing, cracked foundation walls and gaps around old utility lines give rodents easy access. Rats also burrow along the steep embankments by the Major Deegan Expressway and in the grassy slopes near the river, where they are rarely disturbed.
Inside, German cockroaches are the most persistent complaint, spreading through the shared plumbing stacks of large walk-ups. The wooded parkland around the High Bridge approaches and the trees along Highbridge's side streets support a healthy squirrel population that sometimes gets into top-floor apartments and roof bulkheads. Pigeons roost under the Jerome Avenue elevated tracks and on the ledges of buildings near 167th and 170th Streets, leaving droppings on fire escapes and window units.