I agree with Brian. Cleaning the median is too dangerous. The state has safety standards for those who clean, or work on the highways.
Apryl, we don't know how often the median is cleaned. The median along our stretch of highway has a lot of traffic going to the nearby dumps...I'm sure it doesn't take long, after a cleaning, for the median to collect debris.
Rand
*******************************************************************
From Apryl:
I do understand that however I think that due to the fact that ADOT can't seem to get the median cleaned it also reflects badly on the Geocachers. It's not like there's a sign that proclaims that ADOT is responsible for the median only the fact that we're responsible for the trash pickup.
And I understand that Sportrac/k is pursuing this avenue with ADOT but in the year I've been helping to clean the median it has gotten worse and worse. This just coicides with the fact that ALL the freeways in the Phoenix Metro and surrouding city area's are going to heck.
Apryl
From BrianTeam A.I.:
.shape{;}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal{margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;font-size:12.0pt;font-family:'Times New Roman';}p{margin-right:0in;margin-left:0in;font-size:12.0pt;font-family:'Times New Roman';}span.EmailStyle18{font-family:Arial;color:navy;}@page Section1{size:8.5in 11.0in;margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in;}div.Section1{page:Section1;}Thats very bad juju to do that. ADOT has strict rules that govern the Adopt-A-Highway program, requiring that volunteers stay >10 away from the road when picking up trash (of course you can get a little closer to pile it up), and median cleanup is expressly forbidden for obvious safety reasons. Sport Trac/k is asking ADOT to set the hoops up for him, but I envision some strong resistance in approval. Thats what Arpaios chain gangs are for. Id really rather not read a news story about how a Geocacher was smeared across a chunk of asphalt while at a volunteer cleanup event.
Take it for what its worth, but with an attitude that would involve recruiting others with the purpose of violating a policy put in place for the safety of those who choose to volunteer their time, is tantamount to blatantly ignoring No Trespassing signs in order to make the short trip to get a cache, or taking an ATV into a wilderness area. Of course you arent supposed to, and remember that while anyone is out there cleaning up trash, you are representing Geocachers, as evidenced by the 2 very large signs proclaiming this. I originally signed up for the program not only to help maintain a degrading section of highway, but also for the PR it brings Geocaching, hoping that in some small way, it would have an impact on TPTB in creating favorable policy toward Geocaching as a whole when that time came. Id also hate to see one of my former colleagues (aka Highway Patrol) pulling up and writing citations to cachers for being in the median. For safety sake, should it be permitted, a cruiser may very well have to block a lane of traffic to create a buffer for anyone over there once permitted to do so.
I would urge anyone considering circumventing the policy on safety to seriously reconsider it given the potential ramifications.
Brian
Team A.I.
******************************************************************
____________________________________________________________
Az-Geocaching mailing list
listserv@azgeocaching.com
To edit your setting, subscribe or unsubscribe visit:
http://listserv.azgeocaching.com/mailman/listinfo/az-geocaching
Arizona's Geocaching Resource
http://www.azgeocaching.com
(text/plain)