Two more'

Two more'

roads

adopted

Girl Scout Junior Troop 547 and a local citizens’ group have adopted four miles of Rappahannock County roads through the Virginia Department of Transportation’s (VDOT) Adopt-a-Highway program. With the addition of these groups, nine individuals and 136 groups have adopted 353 miles of. highways statewide.

The Girl Scout troop adopted Routes 632 and 634, a total of two miles of secondary highway near Chester Gap. The “Litter Beavers,” a group of Huntly residents, adopted a two-mile stretch of Route 659 between Routes 641 and 628, outside Flint Hill.

Each adopting group is responsible for cleaning both sides of its adopted highway at least four times a year for two years, under the conditions of the Adopt-a-Highway program, a VDOT spokesman explained.

VDOT will provide safety training and materials, orange safety vests and trash bags to help with the litter pickups. Signs bearing the name of the adopting group will be posted at the beginning of the adopted section to recognize the work being done.

The Adopt-a-Highway program was begun last September to give Virginia’s citizens a chance to work with VDOT in their communities to keep the state’s roadsides cleared of trash. Volunteers adopt selected sections of state-maintained primary or secondary highways in their counties, which lets VDOT concentrate more litter control efforts along interstate highways and other heavilytraveled highways with severe litter problems, the spokesman said.

The program, which encourages Virginians to “dare to care” about roadside litter control, was developed by VDOT in cooperation with the Virginia Division of Litter Control and Recycling and Keep Virginia Beautiful Inc. Individuals or organizations interested in adopting a section of highway in Rappahannock County should contact Ben Atkins at VDOT’s Warrenton residency (347-2834).