Someone discarded a sofa along Butler Boulevard in Jacksonville. | Florida Department of Transportation
Published on August 30, 2024 at 3:24 pm
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You name it, road crews have probably scooped it off interstates and state roads.
Couches, ladders, burger wrappers, plastic straws …
In fact, the Florida Department of Transportation collected more roadside junk in 2023 in Duval County than in Broward County — and Jacksonville has fewer miles of roads, department officials said.
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The department’s District Two, with 8,197 miles of roads in 18 North Florida counties, will launch an anti-littering campaign in September called Litter Less Live More. The campaign specifically aims to combat littering in Duval County alone, plus alert drivers to the safety hazards posed by litter on transportation corridors, waterways and green spaces, FDOT spokesman Hampton Ray said.
“We are targeting our interstate systems because that is where we are seeing most of the tonnage of consumer debris,” Ray said. “The tonnage of trash that was removed from Jacksonville interstates in 2023 was 39% greater than the tonnage of trash removed from Broward County, which is Fort Lauderdale. We have a problem in our region, where we have 39% more consumer debris on our interstates than South Florida.”
District 2 contains cities like Gainesville, Jacksonville, Lake City, Palatka, Perry, Saint Augustine and Starke, ranging from Alachua and Dixie to Duval and Nassau counties. FDOT said that’s home to more than 1.9 million residents who log more than 43.2 million miles daily on interstates.
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The 30-day Litter Less Live More program targets motorists who may not be aware of the importance of securing loads during transport on Jacksonville highways, as well as those tossing the fast food wrappers or water bottles out their car windows. When it comes to trash, just “drive it home,” Ray said.
“There’s a safety element; there’s an environmental element, as well as an economic reality,” Ray said. “When we have tons of trash on the road, it pollutes our rivers, it clogs up the drainage system, as well as there’s an economic reality that somebody has to go out there and clean it.”
FDOT will seriously promote the litter campaign through September on social media and with digital advertising. The campaign will alert drivers that maintenance crews will be out cleaning up debris on highways more frequently than normal.
That means crews could be doing “more involved” cleanups that include blocking interstate lanes for safer debris removal, Ray said. The department also will work with law enforcement to “help remind folks — don’t trash the road.”
State officials do not have a cost estimate on the 30-day litter campaign. Ray said the cost is part of the department’s normal monthly road maintenance.
The bottom line is educating the public about the environmental and safety reasons for not littering. And that could mean helping safely clean up junk along arterial road that FDOT maintains via the Adopt-A-Highway Program, Ray said.
Volunteer groups can enter into a two-year agreement with FDOT and agree to conduct litter removal at regularly scheduled intervals. Anyone interested in volunteering for litter removal can contact the Adopt-A-Highway Program at 800-226-5488.
