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AUSTIN - Friends of the Adopt-a-Highway program recently helped the Texas Department of Transportation recognize the program’s volunteers at a luncheon hosted in Austin.Volunteers from the Enloe Volunteer Fire Department in Enloe were recognized for their commitment to the highway clean-up program. Enloe VFD has participated in the program for 15 years.“It takes dedication to get out on the highway and pick up other people’s trash for little more than a pat on the back,” said Mike Behrens, TxDOT executive director. “It makes me proud to know that we have so many loyal volunteers who are willing to do this several times a year, and the Adopt-a-Highway groups are so important in our fight against litter. We’ve found that when our roadsides are clean, motorists are more likely to keep their trash in their cars, so volunteers are important in preventing more litter from accumulating.” The Adopt-a-Highway program was pioneered in Texas. It began in 1985 when James R. “Bobby” Evans, a TxDOT district engineer in Tyler, and public information officer Billy Black, began a campaign to encourage their community’s citizens to take responsibility for their land. Knowing the department’s increasing cost of litter removal, they appealed to local groups to “adopt” sections of highway by committing to clean up litter on a regular basis. The program soon spread statewide and across the nation and now has been implemented internationally in countries such as Puerto Rico, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and Japan.Evans, now retired from TxDOT, commended volunteers for their efforts during the luncheon. The event was sponsored by Arcadis; Binkley & Barfield, Inc.; Bucher, Willis & Ratliff Corporation; Dannenbaum Engineering Corporation; Epsilon Engineering, Inc.; Martinez Corporation; RODS Surveying, Inc.; TEDSI Infrastructure Group, Inc.; and Wilbur Smith Associates.Currently, more than 3,600 groups pick up litter on more than 7,700 miles of state-maintained highway in Texas. Groups who volunteer make a two-year commitment to remove litter from a two-mile stretch of the roadside several times a year, and each group is recognized with signs designating their adopted section of highway. TxDOT provides safety training, trash bags and safety vests and hauls the filled trash bags away. To find out how to get involved in the program, contact Stacy Short at 903-737-9352.
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