Last year, the Arizona Department of Transportation along with its maintenance contractors picked up 118,578 bags of trash along freeways in Maricopa County, which translates to approximately 811 tons. This continues an upward trend in the amount of litter accumulation along Valley freeways since 2017.
During the past five years, litter has steadily increased along state freeways in Maricopa County. In 2017, ADOT picked up 80,442 bags of litter compared to the nearly 119,000 bags last year. That’s a 47% increase.
ADOT maintenance crews are able to clean about 250 miles along the freeway system once a week thanks to funding from the Maricopa Association of Governments. Nevertheless, the amount of litter and trash increases along Valley freeways year after year.
“Drivers can help out by simply not littering,” said Mary Currie, who manages ADOT’s Adopt a Highway programs. “Don’t toss that burger wrapper, paper cup or cigarette butt out of the window. All of those seemingly small and insignificant items build up over time creating safety issues.”
Some of those safety issues include blockages of stormwater drainage grates, sometimes preventing water from flowing freely to retention basins, drainage channels or pump stations. That can cause standing water to build in low lying locations along freeways.