How Tyler, Texas Launched the Adopt-a-Highway Program That Went Global

(Tyler, Texas) - Have you been a part of a group the adopted a section of a highway in East Texas to pick up trash? I have too. It's a small thing we can all do to keep our familiar roadways as clean as possible.

But did you know...that program started in East Texas? Yup, March 9, 1985, the first ever Adopt-A-Highway was adopted in Tyler on a two-mile stretch of Highway 69 just outside of Loop 323. Since that time, that small initiative has become a global effort.

Humble Beginnings of the World Wide Adopt-a-Highway Program in Tyler

In 1984, James Evans, an engineer for the Texas Department of Transportation, was behind a truck in Tyler. As we've all seen, trash was getting blown out of the truck bed, landing on the side of the road. Evans was thinking about the tax payer cost of keeping the highways clean.

To subvert this, he decided to go to some local volunteer groups and asked if they would be willing to pick up trash along various highways. Sadly, nobody took Evans up on his offer. It wasn't until the Public Information Officer for the Tyler District of TxDOT, Billy Black, took up the cause and got the Adopt-A-Highway program off the ground.

How Tyler Launched the Adopt-a-Highway Program That Went Global

Billy Black set up training for those who wanted to volunteer and provided equipment for them to use. The Tyler Civitan Club became the first group to adopt that portion of Highway 69 and still does to this day. Following their inspiration, other groups followed suit and began adopting their own stretches of East Texas highways including schools and churches.

The program began catching on across Texas. Other states began doing the same thing. The program became so popular that other countries, like Canada, Japan and New Zealand, began doing the same thing. It's easy for your group to Adopt-A-Highway, just go to txdot.gov.

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