ADOPT-A-HIGHWAY By WILLIAM T. SUNLEY, Engineer of Local Roads and Streets Credits to: Barbara Welk, Office of Public Affairs

Good news! Effective January 1,1996, the Adopt-A-Highway program includes all state highways, except interstates, in Illinois. In the past few years, since Governor Jim Edgar signed the Adopt-A-Highway bill in September 1992, the program has included only those state highways within municipal boundaries. House Bill 1502 modified the original Act to permit the adoption of rural state highways.

As most of you are aware, the Adopt-A-Highway program is a litter pick up program which originated in Texas in 1985. The program is performed by volunteers who adopt a two-mile section of highway and pick up litter two to four times a year. The name of the volunteer group is posted on signs at either end of the adopted stretch of highway.

According to a survey performed by the Oklahoma Department of Transportation, there are approximately 121,800 groups with 1.3 million volunteers participating in the program nationwide. In addition to the 48 states that have programs (only Maine and Vermont do not), Japan, Great Britain, South Africa and Canadian provinces have sent representatives to the United States to check on the possibility of creating such programs for their countries. No federal dollars are spent and no national administration of leaders are involved in running this program.

Adopt-A-Highway is a community involvement program that brings citizen volunteers into partnership with the Illinois Department of Transportation. The sense of ownership of the highway by the volunteers spreads into pride in the community and state. It is an education program that promotes litter abatement. It is also a cleanup program that presents a better first impression of our state to visitors and tourists.

Municipalities that already have programs in place can continue as they are. The Department of Transportation will directly administer the program on state highways within those municipalities that do not have programs, or those that may not want to include state highways within their programs.

IDOT Adopt-A-Highway district coordinators must be contacted in order to begin a program. As before, a safety meeting must be held before a group can go out onto the highways. The safety meeting is a common sense approach to litter pick up. Each group will be responsible for a two-mile section of highway, and agrees to remove litter a minimum of two to four times a year over a two-year period. The Department will erect permanent signs identifying the adopting group and will provide safety vests, trash bags, removal of filled bags and temporary warning signs.

Following is a list of Adopt-A-Highway IDOT district coordinators to contact for information regarding the program:

District One/Schaumburg
Mike Ward — 847-705-4568
District Two/Dixon
Colby Ardis — 815-284-5415
District Three/Ottawa
Jim Christmann — 815-434-8430
District Four/Peoria
Tim Hurley — 309-671-4485
District Five/Paris
Bruce Pillsbury — 217-465-4181
District Six/Springfield
Bud Hall — 217-782-7301
District Seven/Effingham
Jim Sherrick — 217-342-3951
District Eight/Collinsville
Ron Chiopek — 618-346-3286
District Nine/Carbondale
Ron Eastwood — 618-549-2171 .

If you have any general questions regarding the program, contact Barbara Welk, IDOT Office of Public Affairs at 217-782-6953. •

April 1996 / Illinois Municipal Review / Page 11