Photo Provided 1-2. Ohio Department of Transportation crews pick up litter along Ohio 7 in Monroe County. Crews filled more than 160 bags of garbage in one day along the roadway.
WOODSFIELD — Ohio Department of Transportation crews collected more than160 bags of garbage in one day last week along Ohio 7 in Monroe County.
Ashley Rittenhouse, public information officer for ODOT District 10, said littering is a growing problem across the state with many roadways lined with trash. On Monday, District 10 crews collected 166 bags of garbage along a single roadway in the county, which shows the extent of the issue, she said.
“It’s really a big problem and the bottom line is that it’s totally preventable,” she said. “It’s nothing for us to fill up several truck beds in a day’s time when we go out to do litter pickups.”
Crews with District 10, which includes Monroe, Athens, Gallia, Hocking, Meigs, Morgan, Noble, Vinton and Washington counties, picked up 8,220 bags of litter last year alone with additional bags being collected by volunteers and inmates. Rittenhouse urges residents to stop throwing their trash on the ground and to always ensure truck loads are properly secured so debris and trash do not get loose on the roads.
Although litter cleanup is a part of the ODOT crews’ responsibility, and they do it as often as they can as a part of their normal maintenance duties, it takes away from other road maintenance and road safety projects, Rittenhouse said.
“We have a lot of other things to focus on as well — pothole patching, paving, tree trimming and more. … We wish they didn’t have to devote time to this totally preventable problem,” she said.
Rittenhouse said it’s important to ODOT to get the roads cleaned up and looking better. Crews continued to focus on litter cleanup efforts last week surrounding Earth Day. However, the department is in need of volunteers this year for its annual Adopt-A-Highway program. Many of the volunteers from previous years are aging and are unable to help anymore, she said.
Program volunteers are able to adopt a section of state, federal or interstate roadway that they will then be responsible for collecting litter from. Those who register through the program will be provided all the necessary tools and equipment needed to participate including safety training, trash bags and disposable safety vests. Any filled garbage bags will be collected by ODOT crews.
Rittenhouse said volunteers allow ODOT crews the time to focus on their alternate road maintenance responsibilities while also helping to keep their communities clean.
Anyone interested in volunteering to help with cleanup efforts can register for the program at transportation.ohio.gov.litter.
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ODOT crews collect more than 160 bags of garbage along Ohio 7 - Martins Ferry Times Leader
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