Trashy Roads Getting a Spring Cleaning

Caltrans and the California Highway Patrol are working together to increase the awareness of their litter pickup and litter enforcement efforts, according to Caltrans.

CHP is also be educating drivers to cover loads to keep materials from leaving their trucks.

The Bay Area work is just one of the events in the state in conjunction with Wednesday’s Earth Day 2015.

Caltrans spokesman Marcus Wagner said crews will be putting the litter in orange bags and piling them along roadways.

“It tends to create a little bit of perspective,” Wagner said. Caltrans crews collected about 3,000 cubic yards of litter during last year’s Earth Day event, equivalent to filling 190 garbage trucks with litter.

Crews will be working in Castro Valley, a census-designated place in Alameda County, to collect litter at northbound Interstate Highway 238 at the Interstate Highway 580 overcrossing. Work will be done at various locations in Alameda County along state Highway 77, state Highway 238 and Interstate Highway 880.

In Contra Costa County, crews will be working along Interstate Highway 680 between the North Main Street and Treat Boulevard interchanges.

Crews will also be working along the ramps and approaches of the eastern and western spans of the Bay Bridge. The bridges, ramps and tunnels of Devil’s Slide are also being cleaned of litter and graffiti.

Fines for littering, such as throwing something out of a car window, can be up to $1,000 in any county in California, Officer and CHP spokesman Daniel Hill said. Hill said a motorist could be charged with a misdemeanor if the motorist fails to secure an item that falls from the vehicle and causes an injury to another person.

Charges against a motorist who doesn’t secure an item that causes a death are different, Hill said.

--Bay City News; Image via CDOT