LICKING COUNTY, Ohio — You see it. I see it. We all see it. So, don’t think for one second that they don’t.
Matt Bruning wants you to know when it comes to trash on the sides of the road, ODOT doesn’t want it there either.
Many viewers have messaged 10TV wondering why doesn’t ODOT pick up the trash. The short answer: They are.
“I mean, it’s kind of like a whack-a-mole, right,” Bruning said. “You pick up an area, you move to the next area, you pick that up and when you come back to the first area you were at it’s trashed again.”
Even with other pressing matters going on like filling potholes, plowing snow and ice and fixing guard rails, ODOT crews are still finding time to hit the ground with bags and grabbers in hand.
Already this year, ODOT has picked up more than 81,000 bags of Ohioans’ trash. Since 2009, ODOT has collected more than 5.2 million bags. Bruning says that’s enough trash to put about 50 bags in every single seat inside Ohio Stadium.
Even more impressive, Bruning says, is that all of the trash is preventable.
“This is stuff that shouldn’t happen,” he said. “This is all preventable.”
Bruning says about $4 million is what it costs ODOT each year to clean up the roadways. It’s money that could be spent elsewhere like building much-needed sidewalks and crosswalks. But, as long as trash continues to be thrown down, crews will continue to pick it up at your expense.
“Just do the right thing [and] put the trash where it belongs,” Bruning said. “Clean it up, Ohio.”