Who should be picking up this highway litter?
| Wednesday, Aug 25 2010 05:24 PM
Last Updated Wednesday, Aug 25 2010 05:24 PM
Q: Last Saturday (in late July) my wife and I were driving through town on our way to Fresno. As we were driving down Highway 99, we both noticed all the trash in the median of the highway. We both agreed that it looks worse than a dump.
Who is responsible to clean this up? It doesn't give the city of Bakersfield a good name.
-- Roger Fenwick
A: Caltrans spokesman Jose Camarena responded:
The litter issue is an ongoing exercise for our department. We do our best with clean-up efforts and our Adopt-A-Highway programs but despite our hard work, we seem to always be playing catch-up.
This particular observation of litter within the median is especially sensitive due to the high-risk nature of cleaning activities within such a small and dangerous workspace (for worker and commuter/traveler).
We continue to do what we can to remove debris and refuse from our facilities but we must ask that everyone do their part by ensuring trash gets put in its proper receptacle and that loose trash in pick-up beds is removed before entering the freeway/highway. We receive the majority of our litter from vehicles accelerating at onramps (and losing debris out the back) or waiting at the offramp light and emptying out ashtrays or wrappers onto the pavement.
