Keeping Arizona roadways grand is no small task for ADOT maintenance crews who work continuously to remove trash and unsafe debris from along state highways. Volunteer groups located around the state supplement that work, conducting highway litter cleanups with family and friends. 

Volunteers filled more than 15,000 bags, with trash deposited onto roadways in 2023. That is about 103 tons of  plastic water bottles, cigarette butts, beer cans, construction trash and other unsecured items lost or tossed from vehicles. 

We are grateful for the support of these 850 volunteer groups and the 8,645 individual volunteers who chose this method to help reduce unsightly trash in their community. A big thank you to those who requested a one-day cleanup when a two-year permit was not an option. 

While Adopt a Highway permits are for two-years and require cleanups several times per year, permit technicians will work to find an adoptable area suitable for a one-day gathering of volunteers to reduce litter.  ADOT provides bags and vests for volunteer groups.

In fact, to call attention to National Volunteer Week ADOT is hosting a special highway cleanup from 6-9 a.m. Monday, April 22, in the vicinity of Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. Volunteers must be at least 12 years of age. Volunteers 12-18 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.

If you’d like to join us, please register by 5 p.m. Thursday, Apr. 18. A program representative will contact you to confirm your attendance and provide the details you'll need to participate. 

Thank you to our volunteers for the positive impact you make on the environment and for causing travelers to smile while they enjoy scenery. If you want to immediately increase the beauty of Arizona by reducing the spread of trash into wildlife areas and waterways, this type of volunteer work may be your calling. Please visit azdot.gov/adoptahighway.

The Arizona Department of Transportation welcomes 18 new Adopt a Highway volunteer groups into the program since Nov. 1, 2023. 

It is exciting to see new adoptions, because we know these groups made a choice to join the Adopt a Highway Volunteer Program as a way to give back to Arizona. With many volunteer opportunities available, this is one option to help keep roadsides free of litter. 

Recent permits include a variety of businesses, organizations and one inspiring group that is committed to reducing litter in their entire ZIP code. To that I say, “Right on!”

We are equally grateful for memorial adoptions permitted to family and friends in remembrance of loved ones. These groups organize and gather at adopted segments several times a year to honor family, and reduce roadside litter on Arizona highways in their communities.

If you happen to spot volunteers along the highway during your travels, please show them your appreciation by driving with caution through the area where litter is being picked up and bagged.  

Volunteer recognition signs mark 800-plus adopted highway segments across Arizona for groups who donate time and resources for cleaner highways throughout Arizona. 

If you want to get involved, please visit Adopt a Highway to learn about volunteer opportunities in your area. 

More than 100 volunteers turned out for the ninth annual “All the Way to the Border” highway cleanup on Saturday, Jan 27. All 45 miles of State Route 286 are adopted by residents, businesses and organizations between Three Points junction at State Route 86 and Sasabe at the Arizona-Mexico border.  

These volunteers filled 260 trash bags and set aside enough other larger debris to fill a pickup truck bed. All of it was collected by the ADOT Three Points maintenance crew. The total haul, from aluminum cans to plastic water bottles to shredded plastic to building materials, was around two tons.  

Volunteer group leader and organizer Melissa Owen began organizing cleanups on SR 286 nearly three decades ago. Nine of those years have been dedicated to cleaning the entire highway from end to end. Owen said, “Our Altar Valley community comes together with volunteers from all over the Tucson area to pick up trash along the highway. It’s what our friends and business associates see, and the impression they get of our neighborhood.”

Along the cleanup route volunteers told us what inspires them to show up for the annual event:  

Local rancher Joe King said, “Our family has lived in this valley since 1895. We’re very proud of being here, and we’re proud of being stewards of the land.”

Pablo Peregrina is a second-year participant with the Tucson Samaritans who came out to lend a hand and honor the memory of a friend and fellow volunteer. “It’s a good feeling to give to the community and contribute to keeping highways clean,” Peregrina said. 

Four-time participant Fritz Reifert, from Ypsilanti, Michigan, visits his sister each year and stays for the cleanup. “It makes you feel so good to clean up the highway and make everything look so much better,” Reifert said.

ADOT thanks Owen of Rancho Sierra Vista de Sasabe/ Pozo Verde Wildlife Preserve, Altar Valley Middle School, Altar Valley Conservation Alliance, Trico Electric Cooperative, Park Smith Law of Hunt, Texas, and all volunteers who devoted time and support to help keep Arizona grand.

If you’d like to learn more about adopting a highway in your area please visit http://azdot.gov/adoptahighway.

And enjoy the Flickr album from the event right here:

Melissa Owen, who lives in the southern Arizona community of Sasabe welcomes volunteers to join the annual All the Way to the Border cleanup of State Route 286 on Saturday, Jan. 27. Volunteer groups will gather in the morning for a safety briefing and then report to their adopted miles to bag litter along the entire 45 miles of  that state highway.

The Adopt a Highway event focuses on the area between Three Points junction at State Route 86, about 25 miles southwest of Tucson, and Sasabe at the Arizona/Mexico border. 

If you’d like to participate, please complete the Adopt a Highway Volunteer Permit Application and send it to [email protected] by 5 p.m. on Jan. 17. Include a request for a one-day permit to participate in All the Way to the Border. ADOT will assign an available segment along the route and provide details about the meeting location and safety briefing on Jan. 27.

Earlier this year, Owen and 120 volunteers removed 2,700 pounds of aluminum cans, cigarette butts,  building materials and other litter along SR 286. For more than 23 years she has donated hours of planning and coordinated efforts with neighbors, businesses and ADOT to help reduce litter. 

Please contact us if you would like to volunteer for this event or along a state highway somewhere else in Arizona. 

ADOT celebrates 24 volunteer groups whose new or renewed Adopt a Highway Volunteer Program permits help keep Arizona highways and communities clean.  

The holiday season is a great time to cheer on and remember families, groups and organizations who adopt 2-mile segments and plan scheduled outings throughout the year to bag litter along state managed highways. 

Travelers tell us they prefer litter-free highways (go figure) and these are the groups who stepped up between Aug. 1 and Oct. 31 to help reverse the ick factor:

• 4 Ever Young Family Chino Valley
• American Heritage Academy Leadership
• Bearcat Mfg
• Bullhead LGBTQ Pride Center
• Canyon Ministries Christian Tours
• Dudleyville Volunteer Fire District
• Harly Sellers Forever in our Hearts
• In Honor of Brandon J Bernal B Strong
• In Honor of Dr. Pattea Foundation 2013-2023
• In Loving Memory Cory Starr We Miss You
• In Loving Memory Jill Reiff Stovall
• In Loving Memory of Patty Eklund
• In Loving Memory of Rose Pinal 1951 2023
• In loving Memory of YeVonne M Morris
• In Memory of USMC CL Erick Sonny Tsosie
• In Memory of Warne and Marag Ret Damie Smith
• LAuberge de Sedona
• Modern Lift Equipment Rental
• NAU NRHH Dr. Niel Potter Chapter
• NDANOW Landscape, Enjoy the View
• Our Forever Angel Samuel Schanafelt
• Paul Sr and Mary N Jim Family
• Tucson North MVD
• Waypoint Recovery Inspiring HopeAZ highways

Thank you to the 12,400-plus Adopt a Highway volunteers that donate time year-round to pick up litter along Arizona highways. More joy is always welcomed. Please contact Adopt a Highway about volunteer opportunities in your area. 

Earlier this week, the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality recognized ADOT for measurable improvements to the environment through the actions of volunteers participating in our Adopt a Highway volunteer program. This Copper Level award reflects the importance of the more than 6,000 Adopt a Highway volunteers who keep Arizona grand by removing litter along state highways. 

As ADOT’s Adopt a Highway program coordinator,  my experiences interacting with volunteer groups show the best of humankind. Here are just a few examples of volunteer groups making a difference.

The first is gratitude memorial group adopters express for the opportunity to give back to the community while honoring loved ones. These real-life stories always make the top of my list. Gathering with family and friends for a planned litter cleanup is a way to connect with each other and nature.

Then there are the groups that have been volunteering for a very long time and really are the foundation for Adopt a Highway. The Prescott Litter Lifters in northern Arizona dates back to 1981 and continues to thrive, conducting twice-weekly highway cleanups. Another, located in a picturesque southern Arizona community, grew a volunteer cleanup from two people to a 120-volunteer event requiring a microphone and a borrowed parking lot to conduct safety briefings each year. Friends, neighbors and middle school students gather to bag litter along the 45-mile stretch that spans their Sonoran desert community. 

A third example lies close to home. Among ADOT public servants are volunteers who are behind-the-scenes: my colleagues who have adopted segments as a way to connect with co-workers outside of the workplace, gather with family and friends or a faith-based group. The reasons for stepping up to adopt a  highway and bag trash differ among groups, but the focus is always to help erase the continued flow of litter onto Arizona’s roadsides, something that we work on collectively to maintain daily.  

Hundreds of miles of Arizona roadsides are waiting patiently for kind humans to adopt them. Please explore the Adopt a Highway Volunteer program webpages to begin your volunteering journey.