Adopt-a-Road program coming to San Tan Valley

The town of San Tan Valley aims to start its Adopt-a-Road program in November.

Christopher Wanamaker, the public works director, provided the San Tan Valley Town Council with an update on the nascent program during its Sept. 16 meeting.

“There are a lot of residents that keep emailing me (saying), ‘Hey, when are we going to do this?’ We’re trying everything we can to get it ready for a November start date,” Wanamaker said.

Adopt-a-Road is a voluntary program that allows community groups to regularly remove litter from an assigned roadway segment. Recognition is given through a sign along the adopted stretch of road.

“It reduces roadside litter, it protects the environment, it helps out community and (brings) a sense of belonging and involvement, community pride,” Wanamaker said. “If we can get residents to come in and help unify and clean up our neighborhoods and clean up the streets, that helps the town. That helps reduce our costs, and again, it’s a great way for people to come together.”

The town contracts with a private company for road work such as pothole patching and sign replacement, he said.
The free program will be open to anyone, but groups are encouraged to participate.

“Want to open it up to all of our sports organizations, student groups, businesses, things like that,” Wanamaker said. “We prefer that it not be a single individual. We want it to be a group, families, those kinds of things. But it’s really open to everybody.”

Most people are familiar with the Adopt-a-Highway program, but as a new municipality, San Tan Valley has the opportunity to let residents to adopt roads within the town’s boundaries.

“A lot of municipalities don’t actually have a program like this because they’re fully built out. They’re fully urbanized. We’re in a unique position being a new community,” Wanamaker said. “We still have several roadways that have dirt shoulders that can accumulate trash and litter.”

The town will provide all the cleaning supplies, as well as a safety briefing.

“I think safety is important,” Mayor Darren Schnepf said. “Having been out there as one of the few council members … you don’t realize how fast those cars are going and how close they can get to you.”

San Tan Valley’s program will be modeled after the Arizona Department of Transportation’s Adopt-a-Highway program, as well as similar ones run by Maricopa and Pinal counties.

Under the San Tan Valley program, residents will be able to adopt a 1-mile segment of road for a two-year term, but they must commit to cleaning the side of the road at least twice a year.

Residents who have already adopted roads through Pinal County’s program that are now in San Tan Valley’s town limits will get the opportunity in October to re-adopt the segment.

When San Tan Valley took over municipal operations from Pinal County on July 1, the county started taking down its Adopt-a-County-Road signs within the town.

“What we intend to do is to reach out to those individuals who have previously adopted those roadway segments and ask if they’re interested in continuing to adopt that segment.” Wanamaker said. “If not, then that road will be available for anybody on a first come, first served basis.”

The town will begin an outreach effort for new applications in November, when the program is sent to launch. One entity is already on board with the new program.

“One of the first people that will apply to adopt a road here in San Tan Valley will be the town of San Tan Valley,” Town Manager Brent Billingsley said. “We’re going to put out a challenge between the staff and the council for who does the best job picking up trash.”

Janet Perez can be reached at jperez@iniusa.org. Please send your comments about this article to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines.