Littered ontario highways

[CHAMMY]

The province does have " Adopt a highway" programs but it seems to be few and far between. As regards to the previous reply regarding " Prisoners" helping out,it seems that here in Ontario we are violating there human rights but it is okay to send them monthly pensions.

 

[ShonTron]

Perhaps Toronto West Detention could offer some "volunteers".

What we have here is a failure to communicate!

Anyway, why am I suddenly seeing more and more drivers in cars - smokers specifically - who treat the whole world like it was their ashtray? Is it because cars don't come with ashtrays like they used to, or is it simply because so many smokers are just ignorant pigs?

 

[DavidJamesTO]

A little from Column A and a little from Column B...

Out here there was a campaign to make Tim Hortons pay for road cleanup because most of the cups found at the side of the road were from their restaurants. We'll blame everybody but the slobs themselves, it seems.

 

[Civdis]

Totally Agree

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?

This has bothered me for years. What is so wrong with a nice cut grass median and shoulder along the highway. I agree with getting rid of the pesticides, but it seems to me that cutting the grass a couple of times a year does no harm and keeps the highways looking much nicer. Let's face it, most of our visitors from the south enter this country using our highways. It is the first impression someone gets coming from New York State or Michigan. Frankly, haven driven much of the rust belt states, their highways "look" much better than ours. Even Quebec can afford to cut the grass. I think we should too.

 

[TO City of Light]

To be honest, I don't know which is worse. Is it that the highways, along with the roads and public spaces in Toronto itself, look so trashy or the fact that so many people who are interested in such civic matters - i.e. the UT world - seem to consider it normal and not a worthy issue.



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[Mapleson]

Personally, when I've come back to Toronto after a long absence (6 months+) in a foreign country it's the size of the highways and greenness everywhere that catches my eye.

Litter needs to be addressed via awareness. Beyond that, why not bring out the chaingangs and let them pick it up along with the activists?

Removal of the central grass median, increasing traffic speeds, better H&S regulations, and mounting volume has made it cost prohibitive to keep the highway clean year round. That said, I do support limited funding for an annual clean-up after the winter melt.

 

[Jonny5]

This thread jumped to my mind on the train this morning. There is a far worse litter problem along many of the rail corridors.

There is years worth of trash along the embankments, retaining walls and fences bordering the rail lines. In some places, it looks like it hasn't been cleaned up in years. The area around Exhibition station and Liberty Village is pretty bad. I imagine that many of these spots are property lines and no one wants to take responsibility for cleaning them up.

Some of the garbage pile ups are hidden most of the year, under snow or grenery. The marshy area behind Long Branch station is a mess. Right now you can see in and it's strewn with years of garbage.

 

[kettal]

We should just put goats along the highways. They will eat the litter and trim the grass for free.

 

[pman]

I wonder if there's any research to suggest that drivers would litter less if the trash was cleared away regularly.

 

[DavidJamesTO]

They would probably litter more--"If I don't throw it on the grass, someone will be out of a job!"

 

[Dan416]

I don't agree about the need to cut the grass necessarily. Keeping it natural is fine by me. But litter is litter and should be cleaned. Doesn't excuse the fact that most people in our society today are self-centred pigs who don't give a rat's ass about the planet and are more than happy to throw Tim Horton's coffee cups onto the the highway from their gas-guzzling SUVs.