Do You Want to Be a Highway Hero? 

Editor’s Note: This article is a follow up to an article from April 2024 calling for volunteers to join the effort.

You’d be surprised what people throw out of their cars. Or maybe you wouldn’t. The inaugural workday of the Route 9 River Journal Heroes Adopt-a-Highway group was a short, sharp introduction to what drivers jettison from their vehicles. Lipsticks, empty beer cans (and full ones), snacks and soft drinks, cardboard packaging, bits of furniture, items of clothing, and much more. Red Bull seems to be a favorite beverage. And then there are the ubiquitous red Folgers coffee cans. Not to mention the numerous bottles of pee. Yes, let’s not go there. 

Nevertheless, those of us who ventured out on a sunny Saturday morning in April made a brave and significant start on picking this stuff up and cleaning the section of Route 9 we have declared adopted. It’s the 1.2-mile strip running north from Phelps Hospital to the Guadalajara restaurant, and we have committed to de-littering it four times a year for two years. Those are the requirements of the New York State Department of Transportation, which has granted us a permit so to do. 

Since mentioning this plan in a River Journal article in the previous issue, I have found myself fielding a number of replies from like-minded local folk, several of whom already act as guerilla garbage pickers in their neighborhoods. One even stopped while we were out on Route 9, to express support and the wish to join. Putting a group together is an interesting task, but the heroes – as I shall refer to them – are proving uniformly helpful and creative as we travel this path together.  

I must also acknowledge the generous assistance of Phelps Hospital which has supplied fluorescent jackets and litter pickers, as well as space in their parking lot if needed. And the Guadalajara restaurant has allowed us to use their parking spaces, too. Captain Pierce of Mount Pleasant Police Department has been an additional support, sending Officer Corveddu to lend us some protection as we worked on the hillside and cars zoomed by, rather closely. 

Several hours’ work generated a satisfying heap of filled trash bags, which the DOT will come and remove. But we have only managed to clear about half the roadside, after a morning’s devotion to the task. So we will return, perhaps in larger number, in a few weeks’ time, to wrap up the job for now. 

After that, we’ll see how quickly we will need to resume. Let’s hope that clean roadsides don’t act as an invitation to drivers to see how swiftly they can befoul them again. As for the mysterious, night-time, Folgers coffee consumer, we have our eye on you. 

If you would like to join the heroes, please contact me via Facebook Messenger or the River Journal at editor@rivertownsmedia.com.  

PHOTO: TRASH HAUL
CAPTION: Several hours’ work generated a satisfying heap of filled trash bags, which the DOT will come and remove. Photo by Elsbeth Lindner 

PHOTO: Officer Corveddu
CAPTION: Officer Corveddu of the Mount Pleasant Police provided some protection as the heroes worked on the hillside as cars zoomed by. Photo by Elsbeth Lindner