Historic Garden Week start marked by statewide spring pickup

RICHMOND - Along with flowering buds of pinks, whites and yellows, be on the lookout for vests, bags and signs of bright orange this Saturday as Adopt-a-Highway (AAH) volunteers will be out in force as part of Virginia's statewide spring pickup. On Saturday, April 16, you'll see orange diamond-shaped "Cleanup Crew Working" signs marking the start and end of adopted roadsides. Volunteers will don orange vests and fill orange trash bags that can be picked up later by Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) workers. The annual statewide effort is designed to coincide with the start of Historic Garden Week in Virginia (April 16-24).

Higher participation than usual in Adopt-a-Highway is expected for this pickup because of a coordinated statewide campaign among several Virginia state agencies to focus more attention on reducing litter this year. From April 9 through June 30, litter education, prevention, cleanup and law enforcement activities will be held around the state to highlight the problem and offer solutions.

During the statewide campaign, AAH volunteers will be asked to step up their efforts to clean the roadways by doing more pickups, adding mileage to their pickup route and/or increasing the size of their group. New groups that would like to "try Adopt-a-Highway on for size" will be issued temporary permits for one-time pickups.

Approximately 48,000 volunteers have adopted about 13,000 miles (one-quarter) of Virginia's state-maintained roadways. Volunteers agree to pick up litter along their adopted road at least four times per year for two years. They are encouraged to carry out one of their four pickups during the annual spring event. VDOT provides the groups with safety vests and signs, orange bags and blue road signs recognizing the adopting individual, group or business by name.

Now approaching its 17th year, Virginia's Adopt-a-Highway program is one of the largest in the country. The Adopt-a-Highway program started in Texas in 1985 and has spawned other environmental clean up programs such as "Adopt-a-Spot" and "Adopt-a-Stream."

For more information, go to the Adopt-a-Highway pages of the VirginiaDOT.org Web site at www.VDOT.Virginia.org/adopt or call 1-800-PRIDE VA (1-800-774-3382).

Page last modified: April 18, 2007