Politics & Government

Caltrans Makes Cuts to Adopt-a-Highway Litter Cleanup Program in Marin

Citing unsafe conditions for cleanup crews between the Waldo Tunnel and Corte Madera, agency cancels two adoption contracts; agreement with Conservation Corps North Bay up in the air.

Caltrans is scaling back its Adopt-a-Highway litter cleanup program in southern Marin, citing safety concerns along the stretch of Hwy. 101 between the Waldo Tunnel and Corte Madera, a move that has both frustrated and galvanized anti-litter advocates in the area.

“It’s quite disconcerting to us,” said Jill Whitebook, a Mill Valley resident and co-founder of Marin Clean Highways, an organization founded earlier this year “to rid our county of the eyesore the litter creates on our highways,” according to its website. “They’ve never done a great job and now it’s probably going to get worse.”

Caltrans officials confirmed that the agency has terminated contracts with both Mollie Stone's Markets, which adopted the stretch of 101 from the Waldo Tunnel to Sausalito, and Mayock Drywall, which had adopted the stretch from Sausalito to Corte Madera.

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“The two adoptions were cancelled due to safety reasons,” Caltrans spokesman Vince Jacala said. “This area has narrow shoulders, high traffic counts and nowhere to park or pull on or off safely. Safety is our major concern while working on the highway.”

Jacala said the agency’s safety requirements were not changed but that the southern Marin stretch of Hwy. 101 was simply re-evaluated under Caltrans’ existing safety regulations.

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“I don’t see the reasoning behind it,” Mike Stone, co-founder of Tam Valley-based Mollie Stone’s, said of the decision. “We really keep on top of it, we’ve always abided by the safety rules and we take ownership of it.”

“It’s going to look really bad to have all of our jurisdictions have dirty highways,” Mill Valley Mayor Andy Berman said at the city’s Community Meeting in May when he learned of the changes. “I am shocked at how much litter I see around town.”

The 24-year-old Adopt-a-Highway allows businesses and civic groups – currently some 2,700 across California – to pay Caltrans-approved contractors to clear litter along the road or send their own employees to volunteer to do the same.

Jacala said that while Caltrans has scaled back the program in southern Marin, it hasn’t eliminated it. Businesses, civic groups and individuals can still adopt portions of the roadway, such as park and rides, ramps, interchanges and shoulders that meet the agency’s safety requirements.

As it makes changes to the program itself, Caltrans is also trying to figure out how to continue its two-year agreement with Conservation Corps North Bay as a subcontractor for weed and litter cleanup via the Marin Resource Conservation District (MRCD). That deal, which ended in June, can’t be continued because the state’s Division of Procurement and Contracts (DPAC) has determined that subcontracting is not allowed in cooperative agreements.

“We are working with DPAC to find a different type of agreement to keep North Bay Conservation Corps (NBCC) working for us,” Jacala said. “There is a small chance we may be able to continue with some type of agreement.”

With existing litter cleanup programs in limbo in southern Marin, anti-litter advocates say they are using the situation to find alternative ways to keep the region’s highways, local roads and everything between free of debris.

Whitebook said Marin Clean Highway has made a notable difference in the litter problem in the Mill Valley area on both sides of the freeway, having garnered some public funding through Supervisor Kate Sears to pay a contractor to twice a month clean the Hwy. 101 fence line of weeds and litter from the under the Richardson Bay Bridge north to the Tiburon Blvd. overpass.

The organization is also reaching to local anti-litter organizations like San Rafael Clean and Mill Valley Clean to focus their highway- and local road-focused efforts into a unified campaign, according to Joan Murray, a Mill Valley resident and founder of Mill Valley Clean.

For more info on Marin Clean Highways, go to their website. For more info on San Rafael Clean, visit the group’s Facebook page, and for more info on Mill Valley Clean, email Joan Murray at locustmv@pacbell.net.


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