Adopt-A-Highway cleanup happening next two weekends

Three times a year, bright vests line Michigan’s highways as volunteers pick up litter and roadside garbage. The first of those begins Saturday across the Upper Peninsula. Due to weather, southern regions of the state have already had their spring cleanup. Adopt-A-Highway is nearly 30 years old, asking private businesses, families, church groups, and nonprofits to be responsible for two-mile stretches of state trunk lines and federal highways.

Dan Weingarten from the Michigan Department of Transportation says the state was one of the first to implement the program, which has become a model across much of the country now. He estimates eye popping savings as a result of Adopt-A-Highway for taxpayers.

Anyone looking to participate is asked to commit for at least two years. Weingarten says the Upper Peninsula has less turnover than downstate and right now is in pretty good shape as far as the number of roads that are spoken for. MDOT provides all materials free of charge, including high visibility vests. In return for their hard work, groups are given public recognition with a sign on the highway at the start of their designated territory. Other cleanups occur in July and October.