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Question: What does it take to adopt a highway, and what happens to one compared to a non-adopted highway? Peter

Answer: Caltrans Adopt-a-Highway Program started in 1989, and the volunteers that participate pick up thousands of cubic yards of litter a year from the shoulders of state highways.

Dennis Dickensheets, Caltrans maintenance manager for District 1, which covers northwestern California, including Lake and Mendocino counties, said all kinds of groups participate and are required to pick up litter at least once every three months.

For Mendocino County, 62 miles of the 410 miles in the Adopt-a-Highway Program are available for adoption, mostly on Highway 101 north and south of Willits.

In Lake County, 24 miles of the 217 in the program are available. Caltrans spokesman Phil Frisbie said the need there is greatest on Highway 53 near a landfill in Clearlake.

In Sonoma County, 88 miles of the 282 in the program are available, with areas available in the rural areas of north and west Sonoma County.

If you’re interested in Lake or Mendocino counties, contact Dickensheets at 445-6474.

For Sonoma County, contact, Rebecca Strouse at (510) 286-6227.

If you volunteer, Caltrans will erect a cool sign noting that your group or family is helping keep the highway clean.

For those highway miles yet to be adopted, Dickensheets said there’s no set schedule for picking up litter. “Every area is different,” he said. “If there is a spot location with rubbish that is an obvious eyesore, we pick it up. Generally speaking, it’s a judgment call of the local supervisor when an area’s litter needs to be addressed.”