Caltrans Statewide Litter Pickup Day
Photo courtesy twitter.com/CHP_GoldenGate
The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) held a statewide Litter Removal Day on Thursday, April 24, 2014, to pick up litter and debris along the state highway system and to educate the public about this costly issue.
Caltrans maintenance crews in San Joaquin and Stanislaus Counties picked up 1,169 bags of litter and debris at the following locations:
· State Route 99 (SR-99) and SR-12 in Lodi;
· SR-12/88 junction to the San Joaquin/Amador County Line;
· Interstate 5 (I-5) at I-580 near Patterson;
· I-205 at 11th Street in Tracy;
· SR-99 near Ripon;
· I-5 from Manteca to Stockton.
There also were two San Joaquin County Adopt-A-Highway groups that participated with Caltrans for this event. Those groups were Temple Israel, which picked up along I-5 from Peltier Road to Walnut Grove Road, and E. Clampus Vitus of Modesto, which picked up on SR-120 from Kennedy Road near Knights Ferry to the Stanislaus/Tuolumne County line.
For more information on the Adopt-A-Highway Program, please visit www.adopt-a-highway.dot.ca.gov or call Kathy Cockayne, District 10 Adopt-A-Highway Coordinator, at (209) 948-7462.
The best anti-litter campaign is to ensure trash never makes it onto the highways in the first place. Caltrans encourages you to:
· Carry a litter bag in your automobile and always dispose of trash properly;
· Never discard cigarette or cigar refuse improperly;
· Always cover and properly secure loads of trucks and pick-ups.
With everyone doing their part we can keep California clean for today and the future.
Last year, Caltrans spent $62 million on litter removal throughout the State Highway System, collecting enough litter, trash and debris to fill more than 9,700 garbage trucks. Parked end-to-end, those trucks would stretch more than 50 miles.
In addition to the economic costs, litter presents a wide range of serious threats to the ecosystem and human health: Wildlife suffers from plastics in the environment; roadside vegetation is damaged by large debris; fires are started from burning cigarettes and threaten human health; harmful chemicals and biohazards cause a serious threat to human health; litter clogs roadway drainage systems and can lead to wet-weather highway flooding, congestion, and accidents. Litter aids in the spread of disease.
Slow For the Cone Zone and Don’t Trash California!