Caltrans removes ‘mountain of trash’ on highway in Modesto. ‘It looks better today.’
A cleanup this week is removing debris and litter from a section of Highway 99 in Modesto.
The California Department of Transportation is working to clear debris from abandoned homeless camps and remove litter and vegetation alongside Highway 99 between the Carpenter-Briggsmore Avenue overpass and Tuolumne Boulevard.
Work on that two-mile section began Tuesday. Some traffic delays are expected through Friday, according to the California Highway Patrol.
Community leaders recently aired complaints about litter and trash along Highway 99 in Modesto and Ceres. Caltrans told The Modesto Bee last week that litter removal on highways was suspended for three months following the state’s COVID-19 health orders in March.
Coronavirus risks also prompted the state transportation agency to stop doing homeless camp cleanups along highways and underpasses. Maintenance crews from Caltrans District 10 in Stockton are now trying to catch up with the work. District 10 is responsible for an eight-county region in the Northern San Joaquin Valley and the Sierra.
Last week, Caltrans maintenance workers participated in a California Coastal Cleanup project eliminating a dumping ground on Highway 132 at the San Joaquin River and also removed a mountain of trash at the Woodland Avenue overpass on Highway 99 in Modesto.
According to a social media post, the illegal dumping ground near the Woodland-Highway 99 overpass was strewn with appliances, debris and toxic chemicals. The workers filled two large dumpsters with garbage.
Crew members cleared a mess Tuesday at the southbound central Modesto turnoff on Highway 99. According to a Caltrans spokesman, crews also cleaned the southbound highway from Kansas Avenue to Tuolumne Boulevard, the Highway 132 offramp and northbound 99 from Tuolumne to Kansas.
Cleanup of the Tuolumne Boulevard onramp is set for Thursday. Additional cleanup work is scheduled at North Ninth Street, the Fifth Street onramp and the northbound central Modesto turnoff.
Maintenance crews focused on Highway 99 from Hatch Road to Whitmore Avenue in Ceres last week. Ready-to-Work, a program for people with a history of homelessness, is doing cleanup work at various locations in coordination with Caltrans.
Caltrans said cleanup projects eliminate eyesores and keep trash from blowing onto the highway.
Lynn Dickerson, chief executive officer of the Gallo Center for the Arts, has called attention to the ugly appearance of exit ramps in Modesto and hopes to organize a group of residents and community leaders to stay on top of the litter problem.
“It looks better today and I’m grateful to Caltrans for the efforts, but we all know it won’t stay that way long if we don’t have a sustainable plan,” Dickerson said in an email Wednesday.
Maintaining a cleaner highway is likely to involve cooperation among state and local government agencies.
Dickerson added that the problem of illegal dumping on county roads won’t be tackled without stronger enforcement. “People are fed up with this and I think there is enough energy out there to get a groundswell of support from lots of people to address this problem,” she said.
