CDOT sends entire southeast workforce out to clean up trash along I-25
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- Anywhere you drive along Interstate 25 in Colorado, seems to be littered with trash. The Colorado Department of Transportation says their offices have been inundated with calls about the problem, which is why on Monday — they pulled every worker out of the Southeast Region office to help clean.
CDOT says it's seeing an increase in trash on roadways statewide. In the fiscal year 2021, CDOT in the southeast portion of the state alone spent $1.65 million on trash and debris collection on roadways.
From Colorado Springs down to Trinidad, CDOT had 250 workers out cleaning the shoulders of I-25. That includes everyone from the maintenance crew, to the leaders that typically sit inside the office every day.
"We have engineering out here, we have our traffic department out here, we have our maintenance staff, and office staff," said Chuck Kline, CDOT Region Safety Officer. "Everybody you can think of is out picking up trash today.”
These workers put on their safety vests and gloves hoping to make Colorado’s biggest highway a little cleaner.
“It's important because of the cost," said Kline. "We spend a lot of money on picking trash where we would like to use that money in other places, such as potholes, guardrails, surface treatments. Whatever it is, we would rather be spending that money there than having to pick up trash."
Part of CDOT's maintenance team’s job is to pick up trash. However, they can only do that when there aren’t more pressing safety issues, like filling potholes.
Officials also tell KRDO that the amount of trash on our roads is reaching extreme levels.
"We've found different fast-food restaurants, there's tons of those bags," said Kline. "I think trash trucks obviously lose some of it. It just keeps growing, and the level of traffic that we have now compared to ten years ago is a lot higher. So we're seeing more trash."
This is the first time CDOT has done an all-day event to pick up trash. But with hundreds of bags picked up Monday, they’re now looking to host all-staff clean-ups twice a year.
The goal is to make the highways cleaner and be able to utilize tax dollars on more important road problems.
"I just ask again to throw your trash out in trash cans — not on the side of the roads," said Kline. "Believe it or not, it is costing you money as a taxpayer in Colorado."
In addition to cleaning up around I-25, crews collected trash along Highway 50 in La Junta, Highway 287 in Lamar, and Highway 285 in Fairplay.
