Adopt-A-Highway group gets kudos for Highway 85 cleanup

QHave you seen how clean Highway 85 from Saratoga Avenue to Almaden Expressway has been? Whoever has been cleaning that part of the highway should be applauded. It looks great. — Marcia Citta, Saratoga

AThe Elks have a large Adopt-A-Highway group that cleans some of this stretch, so applaud them. Volunteers saved an estimated $17 million in cleanup costs last year, and now Caltrans is beefing up its parolee work program and starting a newly-formed veterans outreach group to help pick up trash. They are needed, as the state spent $69 million last year on litter removal and an extra $10.2 million is being sent to Santa Clara County.

Go to www.dot.ca.gov for more on the Adopt-AHighway program.

QI’ll believe we’ll have cleaner roads when I see it. The ramps and freeway shoulders have been loaded with trash for years and I never see anyone cleaning it up. If you volunteer to go out there and clean it up yourself, the CHP will chase you out because it’s not safe. — Steve Tidd

AThe CHP is right. It is not safe to go out on your own to pick up freeway trash.

QPlease do something with the garbage dump along Highway 101 around Oakland Road. Look up at the area between the freeway wall and the top wall. One campsite is a toxic dump. Also, the graffiti has increased since the homeless have taken over this area . ... It’s disgusting to drive by this mess. One man stands in the middle of the road screaming at people. It’s almost an everyday thing with him. — Mike Dreon and Cindy Smith

AThe state may install fences to keep the homeless away. Cleaning up these camps is a priority but difficult to do. In March another AdoptA-Highway group spent a morning bagging trash from a campsite near Winchester Boulevard and Interstate 280. When they checked two weeks ago, people were living there again.

QRegarding the colossal amount of trash on our state roads and the millions that Caltrans spends to attempt to clean them, why aren’t we focusing on the crux of the problem? Perhaps some funds should go to public advertisements against littering. — Michael McKeever, Gilroy

AYes, this is an idea worth considering.

QJust get out there with a street-sweeping caravan once in a while. They just did this along Highway 92 between 101 and 280, and it looks like night and day. — John Atkins

ATell that to the next guy.

QDoes this mean we’re going to have those damn street sweepers on the freeways screwing up traffic during the day again? — Ima K.

AYou can count on it.