Ward Lewis figures that because he’s only been “hit” once by the pigeons that hang out almost directly over his workplace, he’s faring pretty well.

For eight years, he’s worked at the Fringe & Tassel, which is in the shadow of the yawning Harris Overpass that’s home to legions of pigeons that roost, nest and poop on its inviting ledges.

Just east of the costume shop, Judy Roth runs an antique store called Gatherings. She, too, counts herself lucky when it comes to dodging pigeons:

“I’ve only gotten nailed once on the head,” she said of her three years in that location.

As the city prepares to replace the aging overpass, it has been asking the public what the new bridge should look like. Turns out people are as interested in talking about relocating the pigeons as construction timelines and bridge touchdowns.

Linda Beacham of Schemmer Associates, the lead design consultant on the bridge project, said the pigeon issue has been “huge.” In one survey, pigeons showed up in four of five comments. People complain the birds deposit droppings all over buildings, sidewalks, cars and sometimes people.

To alleviate the pigeon problem, Beacham said the city is considering a bridge designed to relocate the pigeons to the west, over railroad tracks, where they could do less damage.

Doug Lienemann likes that idea. He works one block south of the Harris Overpass at Midwest Steel Works Inc. and is president of the Lincoln Haymarket Development Corporation. He said the Haymarket group fields regular complaints about pigeons.

“We’re not too wild about the pigeons,” he said.

During meetings about the new overpass, he said, “That is one of the first things that always comes up.”

Pigeons flourish in the area because they have a steady food supply: spilled grain from rail cars. They particularly like the downtown area because the overpass and older buildings provide ledges to roost and nest.

The underbelly of the overpass is a popular hangout for pigeons. The evidence is everywhere: Aside from the pigeons roosting and flying in and out, piers are whitewashed with droppings, nests are tucked into corners, feathers and droppings litter the parking area below, and the gentle cooing of pigeons is heard overhead.

A study conducted earlier this year by a University of Nebraska-Lincoln wildlife damage management class estimated Lincoln is home to about 3,000 pigeons, and the number is climbing.

Beacham has consulted “pigeon experts” to help with the bridge design. They cautioned against displacing the birds so quickly they flock to nearby buildings. Instead, they suggest the birds be eased west by making the bottom of the new bridge flat on the east end and replicating their habitat over the tracks by leaving the bridge open, with beams the birds can land on.

U.S. Department of Agriculture State Director John Hobbs, whose agency handles wildlife damage, wonders why the city wouldn’t want to displace the pigeons altogether.

Lincoln, he said, has a serious “bird problem.”

From the Canada geese that damage golf courses to the prevalence of European starlings to the airport’s worry about “bird strikes,” Lincoln needs to do something about the birds, he said, or “it’ll be horrible in five years.”

And not just because they’re a nuisance; they carry diseases ranging from encephalitis to salmonella. Pigeon droppings in the Haymarket are particularly problematic because of the high number of restaurants, Hobbs said.

Pigeons are also a problem at the Lancaster County Jail in Air Park, where they roost on windowsills all along the building. The UNL study said steel spikes installed in 1995 were effective until about a year ago. Now parts of the building are washed weekly, and the manager of the correctional facility told the UNL researchers that even if workers washed the area daily, they still wouldn’t be able to “get ahead of all the droppings.”

The UNL study recommended a two-year program to reduce the pigeon population to less than 1,000 through lethal and nonlethal methods. Part of the plan would involve contracting with the USDA to kill pigeons with poison, traps and air rifles.

“Shooting could be conducted at night under bridges, overpasses and other areas where public use is low to minimize observation, concerns and response by the public,” the study said. “Shooting activities should be conducted at night beneath the bridge, using a silenced compressed air rifle.”

The pigeon population also can be reduced, the study authors said, by discouraging people from feeding pigeons; cleaning up spilled grain around elevators, feed mills and railcar loading areas; cleaning trash from streets and sidewalks; and cleaning grain spilled around microbreweries. It also recommended designing “pigeon-proof” buildings.

UNL Professor Scott Hygnstrom, the extension wildlife damage specialist who oversaw the study, said the city needs to take measures now or watch the pigeon population triple.

“We’re not trying to be ogres about this matter,” he said.

After the study was conducted, Hobbs recommended last spring that the city, county and Natural Resources District split the costs of a full-time wildlife specialist to handle a variety of animal problems, from coyotes to badgers to woodchucks.

“They don’t really need a full-time pigeon hunter,” Hobbs said of Lincoln.

The USDA would have provided matching funds, he said. The county and NRD were interested, but Hobbs said the city wasn’t interested.

“It just might have been a little bit off the wall for them,” Hobbs said. “I just think it kind of fell through the cracks.”

City-county health department Director Bruce Dart said he heard Hobbs’ pitch but hasn’t seen enough information to justify the position. Asked whether pigeons are a big problem in Lincoln, he said it depends on how much exposure you have to them. Most people don’t have much.

“If I was dealing with pigeon droppings on my car every day, I’d probably think it was a big deal,” he said.

But Ward Lewis and Paul Pearson, who work in the costume shop under the bridge, said killing pigeons would be taking things too far. Even though Lewis says “they’re huge poopers,” he doesn’t think they cause that much trouble.

“Personally, I get kind of a kick out of them,” Pearson said. “I like the pigeons.”

Roth, too, is more concerned about how long it takes the city to replace the bridge because it will affect her store.

“I think there will always be pigeons in every city,” she said. “People complain. They do. But overall they don’t hurt anything.”

Reach Deena Winter at 473-2642 or dwinter@journalstar.com.