caltranslogoCaltrans Annual Litter Pickup Day

Inyo & Mono Counties – The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) has scheduled a statewide effort to raise the public’s awareness and prevent littering.  Caltrans District 9 maintenance crews will be picking up trash along the district’s roadways on Thursday, April 25, 2013.

Last year, the California Department of Transportation spent $43 million to pick up and dispose of trash that was tossed or dumped onto California’s roadways.  Crews picked up 2,469 cubic yards of litter which equals enough trash statewide to fill more than 158 garbage trucks.  Cigarette butts are the number one item discarded on the state’s highways.  They cause roadside fires, clog storm drains and threaten water quality.

In addition to not throwing trash out on our roadways the public can help by participating in the Caltrans Adopt-A-Highway Program.   The Adopt-A-Highway Program allows the public to adopt sections of highway for beautification projects, such as litter removal, vegetation control, graffiti removal, and tree and shrub planting.  The AAH Program participants picked up nearly 104,000 bags of trash from California’s roadsides – enough to fill nearly 1,000 garbage trucks.  Due to the efforts of the volunteers of this program California’s taxpayers saved an estimated $11.5 million value in litter removal costs last fiscal year.

To become a volunteer or sponsor, call Barbara Cote, Caltrans District 9 Adopt A Highway coordinator at 760-872-0622.

WORKER’S MEMORIAL

PAYS TRIBUTE TO 178 EMPLOYEES

Caltrans’ 23rd  annual ceremony honors employees who have died in the line of duty

Bishop – The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) will hold its annual Workers’ Memorial Ceremony on Tuesday, April 30th  at 11:00 a.m. at the Caltrans District 9 Office.  This ceremony will be held in coordination with Caltrans Safety Awareness Week.  Caltrans would like to invite the public to attend.

The Highway Workers Memorial is a time to remember employees who have lost their lives building, maintaining, and operating California’s world-class transportation system.  Since 1924, a total of 178 Caltrans workers have died in the line of duty. The ceremony will be held in front of the Caltrans District Office located at 500 S. Main Street, Bishop.

This ceremony will feature a temporary memorial of 19 orange safety cones, 7 to honor each of District 9’s fallen Caltrans maintenance workers and 12 representing the Districts around the state to honor the Caltrans maintenance workers who have lost their lives.

Speakers will include Tom Hallenbeck, Caltrans District 9 Director and Captain Andria Witmer, California Highway Patrol.  Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 8988 representative Bob Waggoner along with the VFW Color Guard will be in attendance, and Caltrans employee Barbara Cote will perform a violin solo.

While Caltrans maintenance workers place memorial ribbons on each of the cones to memorialize the fallen employees who made the ultimate sacrifice, Rick Mitchell will perform a special bagpipe tribute.  For more on honoring fallen workers –  http://complianceandsafety.com/blog/workers-memorial-day-2013/

 

 

 

 

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