On March 9, 1985, the first-ever Adopt-a-Highway sign was
erected on Texas’s Highway 69. The highway was adopted
by the Tyler Civitan Club, which committed to picking up
trash along a designated two-mile stretch of the road.
The Adopt-a-Highway program really began the year before,
when James Evans, an engineer for the Texas Department
of Transportation, noticed litter blowing out of the back of
a pickup truck he was following in Tyler, Texas.
Concerned about the increasing cost to the government
of keeping roadways clean, Evans soon began asking
community groups to volunteer to pick up trash along
designated sections of local highways.
Evans got no takers for his idea; however, Billy Black,
the public information officer for the Tyler District of the
Texas Department of Transportation, took up the cause
and organized the first official Adopt-a-Highway program,
which included training and equipment for volunteers.
