MnDOT: Adopt A Highway Volunteers Save Minn. $7M

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – Volunteers for Adopt a Highway saved the state of Minnesota roughly $7 million last year in cleaning costs, according to the Minnesota Department of Transportation.

MnDOT said volunteers with the program picked up 970,000 pounds of liter in 2014.

Adopt a Highway is made up by more than 48,000 volunteers, many of who have been picking up trash with the organization since it began in 1990.

MnDOT said volunteers spend more than 190,000 hours cleaning up more than 10,000 linear miles of Minnesota highways.

"They volunteer to pick up for many reasons, most take great pride in keeping our highways clean and beautiful," Ernest Lloyd, Adopt a Highway program administrator, said in a recent press release. "Because of volunteers' contributions, our crews can spend more time on crucial elements of highway safety. They can fix potholes and work on guardrail repair."

To become part of Adopt a Highway volunteers must agree to be a part of the program for a minimum of two years, pick a segment of highway roughly two miles long to work on, pick up litter on both sides of said highway and pick up litter as often as needed.

For those interesting in learning more about the program, or participating themselves, visit MnDOT's Adopt a Highway website.