New machine to pick up trash on I-90 this spring
The Idaho Transportation Department will use a new machine this spring to pick up trash along Interstate 90 from Washington to Coeur d’Alene.
“Now that the snow has melted, everyone can see the ugly truth about how much garbage has been piling up all winter,” Operations Engineer Jerry Wilson said. “This year, we have already started our cleanup efforts and will use a new machine, once conditions allow, to do it more efficiently.”
The department invested in the machine to speed up the collection process. It only takes two operators: one to drive the machine, which uses metal teeth to comb through the grass, and another to haul the trash away in a dump truck.
“To do one mile by hand, it takes five operators working together for eight hours,” Wilson said. “With the machine, we can cut that down to two people working five hours and still cover the same distance.”
The machine works well in the flat areas in the median, which Adopt-A-Highway volunteers are typically encouraged to avoid for their own safety.
“We will continue to rely on volunteers through the Adopt-A-Highway program to help get this mess cleaned up,” Wilson said. “They are just as valuable to us as this new machine, and we are inspired by the effort they make every year to keep Idaho beautiful.”
In 2021, volunteers in North Idaho picked up 4,171 bags of litter or about 72.8 tons – enough to fill 18 garbage trucks.
“There’s always a lag time between when the snow melts and the trash gets picked up, but once the median gets less muddy, and we have the dump truck ready to go, you’ll see us out there using the new equipment,” Wilson said.
During the holiday season the parking lots of local bars and restaurants will fill up as more people are out celebrating. Law enforcement officers say unfortunately it isn’t uncommon to see those full parking lots almost empty once bars close. Through “Pack the Parking Lots,” the North Idaho DUI Task Force hopes drivers will leave their cars safely parked for the night and find a sober ride home. The goal is to see the bar parking lots as full after closing time as they were before closing.
A pair of bridges constructed on US-20 in south-central Idaho replaced culverts over Willow and Rock Creek, remedied the failing multi-plate metal culverts that prohibited fish spawning and wildlife migration for decades, and restored wildlife habitats and streams for safe fish passage under the highway. The project also addressed vehicle-wildlife collisions by building animal crossings into the design of the bridges. The Rock Creek bridge section of US-20 saw 64 vehicle-wildlife collisions over the last five years alone. Idaho Fish & Game and ITD installed game cameras to monitor the environmental benefits of the projects, and within a few months, fish were discovered swimming upstream to spawn, and multiple deer (and a moose) were seen traveling along the channels under the bridges.
ITD won this award for the work on Interstate 84 through the Treasure Valley, the most heavily traveled route in the state, which sees more than 130,000 vehicles per day. The work kept travel lanes open and moving, was delivered under budget and on time and utilized a new-to-Idaho method to enhance safety in the construction corridor. That safety provision was a towing service that moved disabled vehicles off the road and out of the travel lanes to keep traffic moving and assist first responders. Law enforcement was averaging 1.5 hours per incident prior to the implementation of the Safety Service Patrol. The service also saved hundreds of hours for the traveling public and millions of dollars for shippers.
