The PA Department of Transportation announced this week it has won a Keep America Beautiful Award, presented by the U.S. Department of Transportation, for its success in highway beautification.

The award recognizes states for their support of Keep America Beautiful programs and to highlight the importance of anti-litter programs that involve public/private partnerships.

Besides Pennsylvania, the departments of transportation in Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas also won.

PennDOT also was recognized for its support of Keep America Beautiful’s Great American Cleanup program. As part of the 2006 Great Pennsylvania Cleanup last April, local government leaders, business and trade organizations, community groups and ordinary citizens teamed to remove litter from community parks, roads and streams, and in vacant lots.

Started in 1990, PennDOT’s Adopt-A-Highway Program has 7,125 participating groups involving more than 131,000 volunteers who have adopted 16,283 miles of state-maintained roadways.

Groups interested in participating in the Adopt-A-Highway program should contact their local PennDOT district office.

1/5/2007