Littered ontario highways

[CHAMMY]

While driving the highways of our fair province I cannot help but notice the sharp deterioation in the upkeep and appearance. It seems to me that ever since Mike Harris took power the state of our hwys has gone south bigtime. Drive along any hwy and all you see is uncut grass, overgrown weeds,and endless streams of litter and other detritus. Back in the days of my youth the MTO use to keep our hwys in mint condition, grass always cut,weeds trimmed and litter picked up. We use to always talk about how dirty the roads across the border were,but now Ontario does not have to take a back seat to anyone,I have driven all through the States and Europe and I do not see the mess that I see in Ontario. I have contacted MTO, The City and various others about this all to no avail, any one out there maybe can help?

 

[The Mad Navigator]

While driving the highways of our fair province I cannot help but notice the sharp deterioation in the upkeep and appearance. It seems to me that ever since Mike Harris took power the state of our hwys has gone south bigtime. Drive along any hwy and all you see is uncut grass, overgrown weeds,and endless streams of litter and other detritus. Back in the days of my youth the MTO use to keep our hwys in mint condition, grass always cut,weeds trimmed and litter picked up. We use to always talk about how dirty the roads across the border were,but now Ontario does not have to take a back seat to anyone,I have driven all through the States and Europe and I do not see the mess that I see in Ontario. I have contacted MTO, The City and various others about this all to no avail, any one out there maybe can help?

Really? There are bigger priorities right now than beautifying our Highways.

 

[Translude15]

While driving the highways of our fair province I cannot help but notice the sharp deterioation in the upkeep and appearance. It seems to me that ever since Mike Harris took power the state of our hwys has gone south bigtime. Drive along any hwy and all you see is uncut grass, overgrown weeds,and endless streams of litter and other detritus. Back in the days of my youth the MTO use to keep our hwys in mint condition, grass always cut,weeds trimmed and litter picked up. We use to always talk about how dirty the roads across the border were,but now Ontario does not have to take a back seat to anyone,I have driven all through the States and Europe and I do not see the mess that I see in Ontario. I have contacted MTO, The City and various others about this all to no avail, any one out there maybe can help?

Keep your eyes on the road whilst operating a motor vehicle, ol' chap.

 

[Jonny5]

Really? There are bigger priorities right now than beautifying our Highways.

There will always be bigger priorities than this. You still have to do it.

Most likely little maintenance is done in the winter as it is assumed there is going to be snow on the ground to hide all the litter until about now.
Expect crews to be out soon sucking up garbage and watch out for closures on a future Sunday of the Gardiner and DVP. You know the ones that ruin some driver's entire lives each year.

 

[EnviroTO]

I think the amount of litter has more to do with a growing segment of the population who think public space is their garbage can. It used to be a very rare occurrence where people would not take their food trays in fast food restaurants or food courts to the garbage can and dump their tray. I see it much more frequently now. I don't mind the overgrown state of the area next to the highway... it looks much more natural and environmentally sound to me. The litter is a societal problem that needs to be addressed somehow. Maybe jail time for littering and a few well publicized cases would do it, or perhaps a "litterers caught on camera" segment on the local news.

 

[nfitz]

I think the original poster is referring to the practice you see in other places, particularily in the USA, where the grass along the edge of the expressway is well maintained and cut, even in the middle of nowhere. MTO hasn't done this for years.

And why should they ... seems to be a complete waste of money to me.

 

[andomano]

And why should they ... seems to be a complete waste of money to me.

They probably are using the same idea as the hydro companies which only plow the fields when the grass becomes a fire risk.

 

[wyliepoon]

Back in the days of my youth the MTO use to keep our hwys in mint condition, grass always cut,weeds trimmed and litter picked up.

These days, you will have to go to China to see highways in mint condition. Urban highways are well-landscaped, while suburban/rural expressways never lack a narrow median planted with well-trimmed trees or hedges, undoubtedly maintained by cheaply-paid maintenance workers brave enough to work with cars zipping by at high speed on the left and the right. I don't think you can find a lot of people in Ontario who are willing to work like that.

 

[rbt]

I think the original poster is referring to the practice you see in other places, particularily in the USA, where the grass along the edge of the expressway is well maintained and cut, even in the middle of nowhere. MTO hasn't done this for years.

And why should they ... seems to be a complete waste of money to me.

An unexpected side benefit of not cutting the grass along highways combined with the banning of pesticide spraying is that a huge chunk of land became an immediate bird preserve. I've been lead to believe our diversity and general population health is actually up over the last 10 years due to, in large part, to the increase in local plant species growing particularly in interchanges.

I would actually get up and protest if cutting/spraying along highways was proposed again.

 

[junctionist]

While driving the highways of our fair province I cannot help but notice the sharp deterioation in the upkeep and appearance. It seems to me that ever since Mike Harris took power the state of our hwys has gone south bigtime. Drive along any hwy and all you see is uncut grass, overgrown weeds,and endless streams of litter and other detritus. Back in the days of my youth the MTO use to keep our hwys in mint condition, grass always cut,weeds trimmed and litter picked up. We use to always talk about how dirty the roads across the border were,but now Ontario does not have to take a back seat to anyone,I have driven all through the States and Europe and I do not see the mess that I see in Ontario. I have contacted MTO, The City and various others about this all to no avail, any one out there maybe can help?

Your concern is quite understandable about the litter. No matter what the bigger priorities are, basic maintenance is important and not difficult. No one says, "I've got a mortgage to pay...that's a bigger priority than washing my face and combing my hair this morning."

 

[EnviroTO]

I think if paying the mortgage was impossible after washing my face and combing my hair then I might be inclined to pay my mortgage first. Washing yourself doesn't have any significant budget impact and is voluntary. There is a volutary program (i.e. "Adopt a highway") where the public can do the equivalent of washing their face. It isn't too difficult to join a group to adopt a highway or pro-actively put garbage in garbage pails rather than leaving it anywhere and everywhere. In Japan it is difficult to locate a public garbage pail yet there is no litter. Unfortunately by looking at the litter around Toronto and on the highway there are far too many members of the general public who don't see the importance.

 

[CHAMMY]

While I want to thank everyone who has replied to this forum, and while I agree with the various points made regarding priorioties etc,the point I am trying to make is that a foreigner or Canadian landing at PIA and getting on the 427 is going to be greeted by an endless stream of plastic bags,plastic waterbottles, TimHorton coffeecups,cardboard boxes etc. It is not exactly the WELCOME TO TORONTO sign that they should be seeing. I just think we can do better than this.

 

[jn_12]

In all fairness, I've landed at various airports, and can't say I've ever noticed the quality of the roads on the highways, including whether there was litter on the ground. If I'm a tourist, I'm too excited about beginning my trip to care, and if I'm in business, I've seen much worse places, and I'm probably more interested in checking my blackberry than monitoring the sides of the road.

 

[junctionist]

I think if paying the mortgage was impossible after washing my face and combing my hair then I might be inclined to pay my mortgage first. Washing yourself doesn't have any significant budget impact and is voluntary. There is a volutary program (i.e. "Adopt a highway") where the public can do the equivalent of washing their face. It isn't too difficult to join a group to adopt a highway or pro-actively put garbage in garbage pails rather than leaving it anywhere and everywhere. In Japan it is difficult to locate a public garbage pail yet there is no litter. Unfortunately by looking at the litter around Toronto and on the highway there are far too many members of the general public who don't see the importance.

Keeping highways clean is not that significant in terms of budget impact. It's perfectly normal to juggle major priorities with smaller requirements. The government needs to lead by example. Volunteering has its place, but cannot replace the government's efforts.

 

[andomano]

Volunteering has its place, but cannot replace the government's efforts.

Perhaps Toronto West Detention could offer some "volunteers".