Put a Lid on Litter

Litter is preventable. Below are some tips to help keep our roadways clean:

• Keep a container in your vehicle to collect and dispose of trash.
• Consider reusable bags for shopping and refillable beverage bottles.
• Ensure trash cans have lids that securely attach.
• Properly secure and cover loads with tarps, rope, straps or netting.
• Take advantage of special collection events offered by the Illinois EPA.

The Illinois Adopt-A-Highway program brings citizen volunteers into partnerships with IDOT to pick up trash and keep our roadsides clean. The program also educates and encourages people to stop littering. Through the cleanup efforts of more than 10,000 Adopt-A-Highway volunteers throughout Illinois, visitors and tourists have a better first impression of our state and roadways are safer because of less roadside debris.

Please visit our Adopt-A-Highway page to learn more.

Over the past 25 years, the United States has made tremendous advances to clean up our nation's waterways by controlling pollution from industrial and sewage treatment plants.

Please visit our Help Keep Waterways Clean page to learn more.

Any Illinois community or local organization may submit a nomination for national designation of a specific section of roadway, but the nomination must meet stringent criteria and be submitted through IDOT. Information regarding nominations, grants, and federal contact information may be found at the Federal Highway Administration’s Scenic Byways webpage.

The National Scenic Byways Program and the Illinois Scenic Byways Program include only one restriction. The federal law which created the program prohibits new off-site advertising along nationally designed roadways.

Please visit our Scenic Byways page for more information.