Spring cleaning for ADOT is dirty work
Spring cleaning for ADOT is dirty work
That fast-food wrapper you may be tempted to toss out the window of your car and onto the freeway doesn’t just disappear.
It’s likely going to be washed down a drain and work its way through a labyrinth of storm drains before it reaches one of ADOT’s 68 pump stations in the Valley.
Our heavy monsoon rain storms wash trash and litter down storm drains into pump stations, which remove water from freeways when it rains. When too much trash accumulates, drains become clogged and water is slow to drain from freeways.
Because too many people can’t be bothered to not litter, ADOT cleans each of the pump stations in the metro Phoenix area at an annual cost of about $1 million. A hydro vac truck helps get the work done faster, but it takes a full crew an entire day to clear a single pump station.
“If people stopped littering, that price tag wouldn’t be that high,” said Michael Culp, who manages ADOT’s fleet of street sweepers and freeway drains.
So next time you're thinking about tossing that coffee cup, water bottle or wrapper out your car window, stop and think about where it ends up.