MESA, Ariz. — It's not uncommon to see litter on the side of the freeway, but those driving to and from Mesa noticed a lot more than usual.
For close to two months, litter started piling up on the the Loop 202 and U.S. 60 in the East Valley because there was no one to clean it.
Steve Elliott with the Arizona Department of Transportation said in September the contractor who cleans-up the freeways in that area told ADOT they weren't going to anymore.
"We moved as quickly as we could to deal with that," Elliott said.
Elliott said crews within ADOT did what they could to maintain the roads as officials searched for another contractor.
“Litter clean-up is not something we are particularly staffed to do," Elliott said. "Our crews did the best they could to keep up but there's a lot of miles of freeway and a lot of litter that gets on there, unfortunately.”
Then in November, Elliott said the transportation department hired a new contractor and began catching up on those clean-up efforts. Roads were all cleared by December.
“It's also a testimony to the work the contractors do, that you don't notice that they're doing that work, but you sure notice it when they aren't,” he said.
However, litter continues to be a constant issue the state has to keep up with. Elliott believes about half of it comes from people tossing it out onto the freeway. Asking drivers to also secure items placed in the back of trucks and make sure no trash is accidentally blown out through the car windows when driving.
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