Cleaning up area roadways
- April 4, 2025
- Posted by: Joe Milazzo II
- Category: Blog
RTA members and partners,
As our market and associated travel continues to grow, litter along the side of our roadways has unfortunately increased.
Fortunately, NCDOT coordinates several volunteer and related engagement opportunities to supplement ongoing staff and contract litter service efforts by the Department.
The NCDOT semiannual Litter Sweep event begins next week, starting on Saturday, April 12. This spring’s event is North Carolina’s statewide roadside litter removal initiative, spearheaded by NCDOT, to help clean up roadways across North Carolina.
NCDOT provides volunteer groups with cleanup supplies including gloves, safety vests, and reversible orange (trash) / blue (recycling) bags. You can get them from your local NCDOT county maintenance yard office. If you organize or participate in a pickup, you don’t need to dispose of the litter bags of the trash you collect, as NCDOT crews will pick the bags up for you.
Learn more about the semiannual NCDOT litter sweep initiative from this video and on the program website.
You can also learn about more frequent engagement on litter efforts through Adopt-A-Highway and Sponsor-A-Highway program efforts. NCDOT established the Adopt-a-Highway program more than 25 years ago, and since that time, thousands of volunteers have saved North Carolina taxpayers millions of dollars in roadside cleanup costs — every year. Click here to learn more about joining the program, which requires a quarterly commitment to collect trash on a designated stretch of roadway.
You can also support litter cleanup efforts without directly participating in a roadside pick up. With the Sponsor-A-Highway program, you can contract with a third-party contractor that coordinates all aspects of roadside cleanup; your company will receive recognition on a small roadside plaque as a result of your financial support.
If a picture is worth a thousand words, then perhaps this NCDOT litter management system map is worth a thousand page views, in terms of understanding the various opportunities available for Adopt-A-Highway, Sponsor-A-Highway and more.
Thank you, as always, for your membership.
Have a great weekend, everyone.
Joe Milazzo II, PE
RTA executive director
