PHOENIX – Twelve-year-old Brody Vasquez-Jimenez said he wanted “to do good for my community” when he woke up early Saturday to be part of  a national cleanup effort.

He joined other members of Scouting America Troop 10 in Mesa to clean their adopted mile of State Route 88 just outside Apache Junction, according to a release from the Arizona Department of Transportation.

They weren’t alone as volunteers with ADOT’s Adopt a Highway program marked National CleanUp Day on Sept. 2 by helping make roadsides nicer. 

Twenty groups with 136 volunteers registered to participate around Arizona, including those who attended an ADOT-sponsored event along Interstate 10 in Avondale.

The overall goal of the effort was to top the 1.3 tons of litter removed from state highways on last year’s National CleanUp Day. Participation in the project doubled this year, but ADOT officials said they won’t have the totals for a few days.  

During 2024, nearly 8,000 people with 870 Adopt a Highway volunteer groups filled more than 10,000 bags with roadside litter, mainly outside of metropolitan areas. The dollar value of these volunteers’ work: $538,000, according to ADOT.

For more: azdot.gov/adoptahighway.

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