I FINISHED THE EXIT & ENTRANCE RAMPS FROM 76 TO ARLINGTON

 

I'm not too proud to admit I was wrong.  The exit and entrance ramps at 76 & Arlington were HORRIBLE!  Hardest cleanup yet.  And here's why.

The people who mow don't pick up any trash.  They just mow over it.  

I guess they think it looks okay, but ALL the litter is still there!  All the glass.  All the styrofoam.  All the masks.  All the needles.  All the cans.  

All still there.

About 10% of the trash I picked up was new trash.  Isn't that incredible! That's why this is so important.

I worked on this exit ramp for five hours today.  It looks like a muddy mess, but it will look good when the grass grows and it's mowed without a layer of trash on top!

There was so much styrofoam!  Styrofoam plates, cups, food containers, coolers!

Did you know it takes 500 years for styrofoam to biodegrade? That's why these tiny styrofoam pieces that have been mowed over again and again for years . . . are still there!

They're not there anymore.

The reason why this exit ramp was so HORRIBLE is because it is SO LONG!  I picked up all the trash all the way to the underpass, and then I used my GPS to see how long it actually was.  I was sure it was at least a mile!  No, only 800 feet.  But still, what a long exit ramp!

That's why my friend said it was HORRIBLE.  She had a long time to look at garbage!

I spent 11 hours here Friday and Saturday, and I picked up 10,582 pieces of trash along the sides of both ramps.

I try not to be out more than 3 hours at one time, but this morning, I wanted so much to finish so I didn't have to go back. I took my trash to the dumpster, and propped my trash grabber along the side.  And I forgot it.

So I had to go back to see if it was still there.  No way would anyone steal a trash grabber!  It was there.

Here is a view of the exit ramp from the underpass.  Now it looks loved!

This whole area is a mess.  I have Arlington on my list, but honestly I could spend all my time on Arlington and not finish.  I'll never complain about Waterloo and Main again.

Something that I thought was interesting, when I'm on Main, Wilbeth and Waterloo, I will get a dozen horn blows in one session.  Not one single person said thank you as I worked on these ramps.  I wonder why.  Maybe they were all in shock that somebody would attempt to clean them up.

The next time I clean these ramps, it will take about 30 minutes.  That's why picking up trash is so important.  It's only HORRIBLE the first time.