Twenty Adopt-a-Highway groups, almost 50 miles of assigned road, 144 volunteers and hundreds of bags of litter are this year's statistics for Wayne County's Adopt-a-Highway program.
The numbers are impressive and also appreciated by the Ohio Department of Transportation. District coordinator Sonya Riley said, “The ODOT Adopt-A-Highway program enables the department to save important taxpayer dollars and allows work crews to devote more time to core functions like road maintenance and construction projects.”
Last year ODOT spent approximately $4.4 million picking up 392,305 bags of litter from highways and interchanges, so the many additional groups across the state that participate in this labor-intensive task save ODOT hundreds of thousands of dollars each year.
By late September in Wayne County alone, Riley said, “We have had 144 volunteers spend 39 hours picking up 234 bags of litter.” Volunteers are often members of civic-minded groups, churches, local businesses and school clubs.
Frito Lay, for example, has a Green Team, and they've participated in the Adopt-a-Highway program since 2000. Environmental coordinator Pam Carter explained, “It's a Frito Lay initiative to be involved in the community,” and Carter said she believes it is important to make the environment better for future generations.
The Green Team usually has at least six people participate during each of their four-times-a-year pickups, and family members sometimes join in with ages ranging from 14 years old and up into the 70s.
Seven of the 20 groups in Wayne County have worked to keep the roads clean for more than 20 years. One such group is the Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 255, which adopted a two-mile stretch near Guerne Heights Drive-In, a convenient spot to fuel up on breakfast before they start walking along the road with their brightly colored vests, buckets, bags, poking sticks and gloves.
On a recent Saturday morning the veterans group reflected on why they participate in the program. Organization president Vivan Duffy said, “It's been a tradition in the organization to do public service.” These men aren't afraid to get dirty, so it's a good fit.
Jack Cadley said getting exercise was a good reason to participate, but upon further reflection the retired Ashland City environmental health director also said, “I like seeing things clean.”
When asked about items they've found along the road, the group noted some objects were obviously accidently lost while other items people probably just threw out their car windows, like pop bottles and cans. Duane Ahrens said there's the occasional find of a dead animal, but groups are instructed not to touch them.
Jim Emerson said, “It's like anthropology. You find what is indicative of what's going on.”
Although it is obvious that some items were unintentionally left behind, like a notary stamp and truck tire debris, the group would like others to be more considerate and properly discard their trash at home or work.
Larry Watson said, “This world belongs to all of us.” We all need to be considerate and realize the impact we make.
The local Vietnam Veterans Chapter would like to see additional organizations with younger blood get involved, noting how it's getting hard on their aging bodies.
So while some Wayne County residents are casually sipping coffee and reading the newspaper on a Saturday morning in the comfort of their own home, they should give thanks to those who are hard at work cleaning the roads we drive on most every day.
Although there is fairly good coverage of the roads in Wayne County, Riley said, “We can always use more volunteers.”
