Louisiana Gets Extra $3M in State Funds for Litter Cleanup

The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development recently received an additional $3 million from the state legislature to fund expanded litter pickup and removal efforts along major federal highways statewide.

[Above photo by Louisiana DOTD]

This initiative aims to enhance the cleanliness and visual appeal of critical transportation routes across the state, including I-10, I-12, I-20, I-110 and I-610, the agency said in a statement. In addition to litter removal, residents along those highways can expect early grass cutting services to occur as well via an existing state contract.

In fiscal year 2024, the Louisiana DOTD said it committed approximately $13.6 million to litter pickup, reinforcing the state’s dedication to maintaining clean and safe roadways.

This financial investment also raises “important questions” about resource allocation, the agency stressed, as funds spent on litter removal could be directed toward critical areas such as road improvements, maintenance and transportation enhancements if trash was not left along the highway.

State departments of transportation across the country are engaged in a variety of litter removal efforts.

For example, the fourth annual “No Trash November” cleanup event spearheaded by the Tennessee Department of Transportation removed nearly 70,000 pounds of litter from state roadways and waterways in 2024.

Part of the agency’s Nobody Trashes Tennessee campaign, the yearly “No Trash November” effort brings together Keep Tennessee Beautiful affiliates, Tennessee DOT grantees, Adopt-A-Highway groups, youth groups, water groups, and individuals who all work together to clean up trash as part of that state initiative.

All told, 2,412 volunteers participated in 175 “No Trash November” cleanups in 2024, collecting 3,207 bags of litter, weighing 69,776 pounds.

Meanwhile, three New Mexican state agencies – the New Mexico Department of Transportation, New Mexico Department of Tourism, and New Mexico Department of the Environment – awarded a total of $4.7 million in grants to 97 local entities to support litter removal and community cleanup projects as part of a new state beautification campaign launched in November 2024.

New Mexico’s new “Breaking Bad Habits” campaign seeks to encourage state residents to preserve New Mexico’s “unparalleled landscape” by removing litter, preventing illegal dumping, and other related efforts.

And in May 2024, the Utah Department of Transportation launched a new volunteer litter removal program called “Keeping Utah Beautiful” – a program designed to make it easy for members of the public to go online and sign up for a one-time cleanup of state roads.

The agency said these volunteer cleanups will supplement the work of Utah DOT crews who regularly pick up litter statewide. To ensure volunteer safety, “Keeping Utah Beautiful” participants will not clean interstates or some state routes, the Utah DOT stressed – and requires that program volunteers be a minimum 14 years of age.

MnDOT Issues Active Transportation Planning Grants

The Minnesota Department of Transportation recently noted that 10 cities statewide are receiving grants via its Active Transportation Planning Assistance program to help them increase the number of residents walking and biking within their communities.

[Above photo by MnDOT]

Funded by the state legislature, MnDOT said that program offers an estimated $100,000 worth of technical assistance from a consultant, such as developing an action plan and demonstration project. The agency added that it does not issue those grants directly to recipients and that each community receiving a grant is responsible for covering the implementation costs – such as construction – of their respective active transportation projects.

“[The] Active Transportation Planning Assistance program brings together neighbors to dream big and develop a work plan for building their own network for walking and bicycling,” explained Will Wlizlo, MnDOT’s active transportation coordinator, in a statement. “This assistance helps cities reduce pollution, curb traffic, revitalize main streets, and increase residents’ health and safety.”

State departments of transportation across the country support local active transportation initiatives in their respective regions in a variety of ways.

For example, in August 2024, the Illinois Department of Transportation outlined in a blog post how it helped transform an old railroad line and bridge in the city of Dixon, IL, into a trail for pedestrians, bicyclists, and other active transportation users.

The last train using the old Illinois Central Railroad line that once ran through the heart of Dixon rolled through the town in 1985. In 2016, the municipality began planning the conversion of that rail line into a multi-use trail with a combination of state and local funds as well as $3.4 million in federal funds disbursed by the Illinois DOT.

And, in 2023, the Rhode Island Department of Transportation helped support – in concert with various federal, state, and local agencies – the new “Gotham Greens” off-road multi-use path along the Woonasquatucket River Greenway via stormwater mitigation efforts.

This new path, located behind the Gotham Greens building in Olneyville, offers new access to the Woonasquatucket River and serves as a connector between the Greenway and the Washington Secondary Bike Path – helping “knit together” a “patchwork of pathways” in the City of Providence to promote active transportation use while protecting the local environment from stormwater flooding.

Environmental News Highlights – January 29, 2025

CTDOT Seeks Input on Preservation Agreement Draft

The Connecticut Department of Transportation is seeking public comment through February 24 on the draft of a new “Programmatic Agreement” with several modal administrations within the U.S. Department of Transportation that will govern how the agency reviews infrastructure projects in compliance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act.

[Above photo by the Connecticut DOT]

Section 106 requires federal agencies to identify and assess the effects of a project on historic properties. In practice, that means Connecticut DOT archaeologists and architectural historians carry out this work on behalf of the federal agencies and in conjunction with the Connecticut State Historic Preservation Office or SHPO, Native American tribes, consulting parties, and the public.

The Connecticut DOT said this new agreement involves the Federal Highway Administration, the Federal Railroad Administration, the Federal Transit Administration, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, and the SHPO and seeks to create more “efficient processes” for the review of historic properties that may be affected by road, rail, and transit projects across the state.

“We are committed to ensuring that transportation projects not only meet the needs of today but also preserve and respect our rich historical and cultural assets,” said Garrett Eucalitto, commissioner of the Connecticut DOT, in a statement.

Eucalitto – who also serves as the president of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials – added that this new agreement builds off a similar decade-long accord between the agency and FHWA.

“This collaboration with our federal and state partners is crucial for maintaining transparency, efficiency, and accountability in our process, particularly when it comes to preserving the historic landscapes and structures that define our communities,” he added.

Many state departments of transportation across the country are involved in similar programmatic agreements and are also engaged in a variety of historical preservation efforts tied to transportation projects.

For example, in March 2024, the Georgia Department of Transportation and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (GDNR) signed a historic Bat Conservation Funding Programmatic Agreement that will transfer conservation funding from Georgia DOT to GDNR so as to maximize bat conservation areas while minimizing impacts to transportation project timelines.

The Bat Conservation Funding Programmatic Agreement will work in conjunction with a Programmatic Consultation Agreement developed in partnership with Georgia DOT, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, the Federal Highway Administration, GDNR, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to streamline Section 7 consultation for transportation projects under the Endangered Species Act.

Those two agreements together form a first of its kind approach to protect endangered bats, creating predictability to the timeline of completing environmental documentation on transportation projects, the Georgia DOT said at the time.

In September 2024, the Iowa Department of Transportation – with support from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration –released a 25-minute film about the Black Hawk Bridge and that of the local communities surrounding it.

Created as a compliance requirement with the National Historic Preservation Act, the short film – entitled “Bridging Generations: The Story of the Black Hawk Bridge” – details the history of the 1,700-foot bridge that spans the Mississippi River, connecting Iowa Highway 9 in Lansing, IA, to Wisconsin Highway 82 in rural Crawford County.

WSDOT Helping Launch New E-Bike Rebate Program

The Washington State Department of Transportation is launching a new program in April designed to make electrically-powered bicycles or “e-bikes” more affordable to state residents.

[Above photo by WSDOT]

WSDOT’s new program – launched with its newly-selected vendor, APTIM, LLC – will provide state residents with rebates through point-of-sale discounts on e-bikes and associated safety equipment, with funding for the rebates from $5 million allocated by the state legislature within its 2024 supplemental transportation budget.

[Editor’s note: In early January, the Adventure Cycling Association, in partnership with the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, recently announced a major expansion of the United States Bicycle Route System or USBRS, with four new routes being added in three states.]

”I am thrilled to share that following a competitive bid process in 2024, WSDOT identified APTIM to develop the technology and processes the agency needs to safely and securely manage the program,” said Adele Peers, who oversees WSDOT’s e-bike program, in a statement.

She added that APTIM has nationwide experience delivering e-bike rebate programs at the local and state levels for the cities of Boston, MA; Bentonville, AR; plus the Colorado cities of Boulder and Denver.

WSDOT noted that APTIM is currently finalizing the e-bike rebate program’s logistics – which includes training for bike shops participating in this endeavor – and is also building a secure online portal to accept rebate applications, distribute rebates, and reimburse bike shops for sales.

State departments of transportation across the country are involved in related “active transportation” efforts in support of various pedestrian and bicycling initiatives.

Maryland DOT’s Paul Wiedefeld. Photo by Maryland DOT.

For example, in September 2024, the Maryland Department of Transportation began developing what it calls a “landmark action plan” to improve and expand trail connectivity statewide.

The agency said this plan will guide future investment in shared-use paths, helping to advance efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, boost alternatives to driving, and prioritize the safety of all road users across the transportation network.

And in May 2024, the Utah Department of Transportation issued nearly $95 million to support 19 trail projects – including the construction of new paved trails as well as funding for planning efforts to fill in existing trail gaps – as part of creating a regional “Utah Trail Network” across the state.

The agency said that it collaborated with communities statewide regarding the allocation of that funding – approved by the Utah Transportation Commission – to select the key projects for this statewide trail network.

Also, the Texas Department of Transportation is developing a Statewide Active Transportation Plan or SATP to gather recommendations for improving bicycling, walking, and rolling conditions across the Lone Star state.

TxDOT noted the SATP is being integrated with its other long-range mobility plans to help it maintain a safe, accessible, connected, and fully integrated multimodal transportation system for the future, since the population of Texas is expected to grow by 28 percent by 2050.

Environmental News Highlights – January 22, 2025

Oregon Issues $31M in ‘Safe Routes to School’ Funds

The Oregon Transportation Commission recently approved 28 Safe Routes to School projects, with a total investment exceeding $31 million, to help make travel safer for students within a two-mile radius of local schools.

[Above photo by Oregon DOT]

Those projects – funded through Oregon Department of Transportation’s “Safe Routes to School” competitive construction grant program – aim to address the “highest” transportation safety risks around local schools, remove barriers for students at low-income schools, and are the likeliest to be completed within five years.

“It’s important to us to help students and their families get to school safely by foot or bike or mobility device,” said Suzanne Carlson, Oregon DOT’s Public Transportation Division administrator, in a statement.

“We are excited to support cities and counties who want to make these improvements in their communities,” she added – noting that the program has funded 104 construction projects since 2019, with nearly half of those projects completed and the other half in construction or design. “They’re making an amazing difference around the state,” Carlson noted.

Other state departments of transportation across the country support similar “Safe Routes to School” programs.

For example, in July 2024, the Ohio Department of Transportation issued more than $8 million to support 29 projects in 19 counties.

The agency noted that projects are selected by a committee made up of subject matter experts from Ohio DOT and the Ohio Department of Health based on the ability to demonstrate improved bike or pedestrian connectivity, improved safety, number of students impacted, economic need, and available funding.

And in June 2024, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation noted that 72 schools joined its “Safe Routes to School” program during the 2023-2024 academic year; boosting the total number of partner schools across Massachusetts to 1,171, facilities located in 284 communities and serving approximately 590,000 students.

NCDOT to Help Establish Wake Forest ‘Mobility Hub’

The North Carolina Department of Transportation is going to use federal grant funds to help the town of Wake Forest design and build a “mobility hub,” which will serve as the rail station for the S-Line passenger rail service starting in 2030 and provide last-mile connections to public transit and ride-sharing services, as well as walking and bicycling options.

[Above photo by NCDOT]

The NCDOT is administering a $13.2 million Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity or RAISE grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation to help construct that “mobility hub” for Wake Forest; one of several serving towns in central North Carolina along the S-Line passenger rail corridor under development.

That grant is one of 14 received state department of transportation projects in fiscal year 2025 round one RAISE grant funding issued by USDOT in early January.

NCDOT added that this recent funding builds on a more than $1 billion federal grant it received in December 2023 to design and construct the first segment of the S-Line from Raleigh to Wake Forest, which will create faster passenger rail service from Raleigh to Washington D.C. Using that grant, the NCDOT has already broken ground on plans to begin rail service to the town by 2030.

NCDOT Secretary Joey Hopkins noted in a statement that this recent RAISE grant from USDOT will “help us provide more safe and reliable transportation options” for all state residents.

“We appreciate our federal partners for their work to prioritize transportation, which drives economic development and improves our quality of life,” he added.

“We’re grateful for this grant and the strong partnerships Wake Forest and all the towns along the S-Line have with the NCDOT,” noted Wake Forest Mayor Vivian Jones. “This grant secures some of the funding we need to build a mobility hub where passenger rail travelers will disembark and find ways to finish their travels through public transit, walking, biking and ride-sharing services.”

Environmental News Highlights – January 15, 2025

Michigan DOT Turns Unused Land into Pollinator Habitat

The Michigan Department of Transportation is leveraging a grant to transform unused land near an interstate rest area into a 14-acre scenic strip of tallgrass prairie designed to attract pollinators.

[Above photo by Michigan DOT]

The agency-owned parcel is south of the Turkeyville rest area on southbound I-69, just west of the right of way, according to Michigan DOT Ecological Resources Specialist Kelsey Alvarado. The goal of the project is to create habitat for pollinators “to serve as a safe refuge and connector to other suitable habitat in the landscape,” she said.

The 14 acres wasn’t serving any particular purpose, so the department decided to “allow it to function as a scenic strip once again and support pollinators at the same time,” Alvarado noted.

And, because the land is beyond the right of way, it is “an ideal location for a restoration project since it is not subject to the same roadside vegetation management standards as rights of way,” she added.

The $5,100 grant from the University of Illinois Chicago and Stantec will pay for a custom seed mix of grasses and flowering plants to attract bees, hummingbirds, and other pollinators, according to a Michigan DOT news release. The seed mix also will include native milkweed seeds that will be used to attract Monarch butterflies.

MDOT crews already have mowed and treated the scenic strip with a summer herbicide application. After applying a herbicide in the fall of 2024 and completing further treatment this spring, crews will sow seeds.

Alvarado said the wildflowers and other plants typically take up to three years to fully bloom. The scenic strip project “fits into Michigan DOT’s larger pollinator habitat management plan and conservation initiatives that aim to reduce negative impacts, improve existing habitat and create new habitat,” she noted.

This isn’t the first time Michigan DOT’s Pollinator Habitat Management program has utilized real estate near interstates for pollinators. Tall sunflowers flourish along I-75 near US 10 just west of Bay City, while wildflowers attract bees and hummingbirds at the Port Huron Welcome Center at westbound I-94.

Other state departments of transportation have developed programs to create habitat for and to protect pollinators, which play a critical role in the world’s food production.

For example, the Tennessee Department of Transportation mails milkweed seeds to state residents who request them to encourage Monarch butterfly activity; the Virginia Department of Transportation committed in 2024 to installing 135 acres of new pollinator habitats throughout the commonwealth; and the Texas Department of Transportation is studying the effectiveness of experimental butterfly diverters to save the nearly endangered Monarch butterflies from becoming roadkill.