Garbage From Highway ▶ Archived

If anybody has a contact at the State Department of Transportation, please contact benberkowitz@upperstatestreet.org. The Upper State Street Association would like to address this concern but we do not know who to contact.

This is still disgusting.

I talked to the DOT rep for our area about this months ago twice and he promised that it would be clean.
It would be nice if the DOT was a better Neighbor. They have the worst maintained property on the block

Another photo

And one more...please clean this up. It has been like this for the 4 years I have lived here.

Have called this in to DOT and sent them links to this photo.
No Fix. Disgusting the Way these guys leave our city.

Here's what this looks like s of today.
This is our neighborhood DOT. People live here and they vote and they pay taxes. Please respond ASAP

another one taken today

Please FIX DOT asap.
We have a community cleanup and will clean all of your other properties for you in the neighborhood but this one is inaccessible.

Why does the DOT leave our community trashed like this? Clean highway areas is an obligation they have to us. The city should install a barricade and shut the highway down until this refuse is removed by the state.

Resident,
Love the idea. still have not heard from DOT on this. Will keep everyone posted.

Ben -

The Department has a planned cleanup activity for this area scheduled for the coming week.

Having perused your website, I feel it is important to point out to you and other readers, in fairness, that the DOT does do everything it can to be a good neighbor. As you are likely well aware, we do have a number of priorities that need to be addressed on a daily basis and we do so with limited funding and staffing. Litter cleanup, in and of itself, could be a full-time job for our maintenance crews, and in many cases, as quickly as we clean up an area, the litter returns thanks to folks who don't respect the law or the communities that they pollute in. The fact is that the Department spends roughly 2.5 million dollars a year cleaning up litter and garbage that people toss illegally - that money surely could be spent on other needs if we could simply get folks to be responsible instead of wantonly tossing garbage for other people to pick-up.

We simply don't have staff to be constantly doing litter cleanup activities in conjunction with our other priorities, thus, we perform litter cleanups as often as those priorities allow.

Additionally, if I am navigating your site properly, it appears that you made a comment to the effect of "Disgusting the way these guys leave our city" - referring to the DOT. I respectfully have to take exception to that comment. On the contrary, it's the litterbugs that are disgusting for the way they leave the city. Frankly, the CT DOT, you, the local community, and the rest of the taxpayers in the state are the victims in this situation - victims of the actions of litterbugs. Litter is an eyesore for everyone, and we need to use staff time and taxpayer dollars to clean up after folks who can't seam to use garbage cans. The DOT certainly is not responsible for the garbage being there - litterbugs are - but we are responsible neighbors, sensitive to the concerns of the community, and we will clean it up. I just feel it is unfortunate that you and others direct your discontent towards the DOT when we are victims in this as well.

Respectfully,

Kevin Nursick
CT DOT

Kevin,
I appreciate your response. So it is made clear this area has not been cleaned by the DOT in 10 years. It has been reported multiple times with promises of a crew coming out.

When I called to ask about the adopt a spot program I was told it was on hold. We removed 5,000 lbs of trash from your property last spring at Trumbull Street and I would do it here if the fence was unlocked.

This is a neighborhood in which we live with many of the shortcomings of living next to a highway. Please make it easier on us and respect the fact that people living here do everything they can to keep the neighborhood clean.

If you would like to meet me at this location w hen your guys come to do the clean-up I would be hear about your future plans for scheduled clean-up of these properties along State Street.

Thanks,
Ben Berkowitz

Hi Ben -

Thank you for taking the time to hear our response on this. You and your community do have a valid concern about litter in the area, and we will endeavor to do the best that we can to stay on top of it. Additionally, I will check the status of the "Adopt a Highway" program and will inform you as soon as I have information.

Kevin

Thanks Kevin.
If you want to stay abreast to these kind of issues you can create watch areas for your properties.
I realize that in the case of the State they are numerous so you might just want to create a big watch area that filters for the word DOT.

ConnDot is doing a really nice job of cleaning and trimming this area right now.
Here's a few photos of what they removed.

here's another photo.

Great work! But DOT needs to take better care of ALL of its urban properties.

It isn't the litterbug's responsibility entirely - studies show that when you let litter sit around, more people litter. The only way to prevent it is to keep sites much cleaner than they already are.

Also, New Haven's highways see a huge volume of traffic from all over the State of CT and beyond. So it's the DOT's responsibility to keep them clean. DOT's responsibility is NOT to educate every driver in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and New York that they should not litter.

The state of CT legislature needs to pass a law that says that the DOT must maintain its properties better. The DOT built these highways to move people around the state, but by letting them remain in sh*$ty condition like they do, they undermine the strength of our communities. This is unacceptable and I hope our state senators and representatives will consider passing a law to fix this situation.

Look at Europe for an example - highways through cities there are lined with flowering trees, grassy strips where people can have a picnic, and well-maintained bike paths. In CT, our highways through cities are lined with junk that never gets picked up.

Why does the DOT continue to maintain policies that aim to destroy our cities and towns?

DOT: please clean up all areas next to the interstates. And keep them clean!

Thanks for the clean-up. The photos look amazing and can't wait to see in person.

Miles

That is nasty. good points made by Kevin Nursick, and jeez how are we going to raise Market value for the area when we live across from a highway ? no bites on my Condo ?
arrrgh - that's also the sound of the men working on the chaain gang, well sorta

it is disgusting and aggravating on how long it takes the State to get there and clean, nice of Mr.Ben to ask for the gate to be opened to clean, Kevin is right about litterers, can u imagine just what a dangerous condition is caused by throwin trash from a moving vehicle ? Funny , i've been watching Public Works trucks slam plastic bottles and actually leave bags of beer cans on the side of the road over here for many years, i've watched one driver repetitively throw paper cut up in little pieces, gin and juice travelers "goin ta check" their homies that they just hugged 10 minutes ago throw unmentionables , i have posted it with license plates for some time now , it begins with a $250 fine, the problem was that some of these violaters were actually calling agencies on the little blight that they were creating. There was even a Sgt. that was tossing his apple cords and McDonalds food from his moving vehicle ( a black one that i have mentioned before too, a real tough guy)
imagine how their homes must look ?
Severe scum bags, no respect for themselves ,their families, their neighborhoods
They won't respect yours

This work was completed on 3/23/09.

The guys left a ton of garbage.
Please send them out again.
I'll post some more photos.
Thanks for getting back Joe.

The DOT created these dead zones, the least it can do is maintain them at a minimum standard of cleanliness. My understanding is that the DOT program allowing civic groups to "adopt" a blighted DOT area is currently not functioning. The DOT has a remarkable record of fiscal mismanagement and corruption.

This area was cleaned up on June 1, 2009 by the Department's Maintenance
crew.