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This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio.

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Hello and Welcome to This Day

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in History Class, a show that

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combs the highways of history for

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a new story every day.

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I'm Gay Bluesier, and in this episode,

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we're revisiting the birth of the Adopt

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a Highway Program, a grassroots

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effort to keep America's roads clean

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or at least cleaner. The

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day was March ninth, nineteen

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eighty five. A civic

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group in Tyler, Texas put

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up the first Adopt a Highway sign. The

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blue and white four by eight foot

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sign read adopt a Highway

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Program. The next two miles

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adopted by Tyler Civitan

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Club for litter control. As

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part of the city's pilot program,

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members of the Civitan Club committed

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to cleaning up litter alongside a stretch

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of Highway sixty nine just north

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of Tyler. Although cleaning

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supplies and safety training were

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provided to the highway adopters,

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the labor of clearing the roadside

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was done strictly on a volunteer basis

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at no cost to taxpayers. As

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a result, the Adopt a Highway

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Program went on to save millions

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of dollars in clean up costs, allowing

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state governments to put transportation funds

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into other projects. Fourteen

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years later, in nineteen ninety nine,

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the Texas legislature celebrated

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the program's success by declaring

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March ninth as International

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Adopt a Highway Day. The

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cleanup program got its start in

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nineteen eighty four, a year before

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the first sign was installed. The

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idea for it came from a man named

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James Bobby Evans, a district

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engineer for the Texas Department of Transportation.

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It was his job to oversee the upkeep

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and repair of nearly four thousand

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miles of state highway. One

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day in nineteen eighty four, Evans

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was driving north toward Tyler, Texas,

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when he noticed a red pickup truck

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packed with trash driving beside

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him. As the truck pulled ahead,

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Evans realized its tailgate was

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open, allowing empty cement bags,

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nail cartons, and other debris to

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spill out all over the highway. At

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the time, litter was a serious

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problem in Texas. The

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state spent almost twenty five million

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dollars a year collecting trash from

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roadsides, and costs were rising

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by about seventeen percent each

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year. Evans knew that his

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department didn't have the money to combat

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the increase in littering, but as he drove

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past miles of highway strewn

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with beer cans and fast food wrappers,

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he knew they had to come up with some kind

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of solution. Another part

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of Evans job was promoting volunt

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tiroism by giving presentations

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at schools, businesses, and community

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centers. He had given hundreds

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of these talks before, but after

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touring the highway just outside of Tyler,

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Evans decided to try a new tactic.

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He approached civic and community groups

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individually and challenged them to adopt

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one of the highways leading to their city

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by cleaning it up at least four times

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a year. Initially, the

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idea didn't get any takers.

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Something was still missing. That's

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when Evans called in Billy Black,

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the public affairs officer for the Department

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of Transportation in Tyler. Evans

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pitched his adopt a highway idea, and

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Black quickly filled in the missing piece.

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Give the volunteers credit by

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listing their organization's name on

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a roadside sign. Not

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only would it make the commitment feel more

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official, they would also act as free

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publicity. Both for the highway adopters

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and for the program itself. Over

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the next year, Black and Evans

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worked together to create a program that

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could train and equip volunteers and

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also install that all important signage.

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The only problem was they didn't

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have the authority to erect signs

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along the highway. Evans

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called deputy director Henry Thomason

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and outlined the plan for the program.

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He was reportedly met with a long pause

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before Thomason finally replied, quote,

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Bobby, sometimes it's better

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to ask forgiveness than to seek permission.

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With that out of the way, Billy Black

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started promoting the idea to the public.

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The first group to seize the opportunity

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was the Tyler Civitan Club, whose

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members wanted to adopt two miles

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of US Route sixty nine between

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their city and Interstate twenty.

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The groups adopt a highway sign, the

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first of its kind, was installed

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on March ninth, nineteen eighty five.

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Not long after, about twelve any

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members of the Civitan Club gathered

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for their first clean up. They donned

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their orange vests and gloves, took

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up their spiked sticks, and got to

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work spearing garbage for the common

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good. Word of the Adopt

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a Highway program spread quickly,

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and soon community groups in all two

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hundred and fifty four Texas counties

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had joined in the cleanup effort. In

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fact, in the program's first year,

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roughly seven hundred groups signed

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on, claiming responsibility for

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more than a thousand miles of highway.

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A large part of that success was

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due to a statewide media campaign

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that was launched in conjunction with the program.

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The nineteen eighty six campaign debuted

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the now famous slogan Don't

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Mess with Texas, which

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was trademarked by the Texas Department of Transportation.

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Within a year, the Adopt a Highway program

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and the media campaign had reduced

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litter clean up costs by twenty nine

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percent, and within the first four

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years, litter on Texas highways

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was reduced by seventy two percent.

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Following this hugely successful debut

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in Texas, it didn't take long

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for other states to well adopt

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the Adopt a Highway program. The

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terms of the program can vary a little

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between states, but for the most part,

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volunteers apply to adopt at least

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two miles of highway for a two year

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period. During that time,

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they agree to clean that stretch of road on

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a regular basis, at least

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once every three months or so. In

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return, the adopters get their name

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emblazoned on a snazzy blue sign.

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Over the years, some variation

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of the program eventually spreads all

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fifty states, as well as to Puerto Rico

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and even a few other countries, including

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Australia, Japan, and Spain.

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Schools, businesses, and churches

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are some of the most common organizations

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to participate in the program, but individuals

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sometimes adopt a highway themselves.

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Over the years, there's been a great deal of

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controversy over whether certain groups

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or individuals should be excluded

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from the program. Sometimes

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the outrage fades quickly, like in

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cases where a group of nudists or a

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Wiccan coven joined the program.

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Other times, the controversy leads

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to actual legal disputes, like

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in two thousand and one, when Missouri

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and twenty eight other states sued

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for the right to deny applications

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from the Ku Klux Klan. A

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lower court ruled that it was unconstitutional

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to bar the organization from the adopted

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highway program, and that ruling

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was allowed to stand after the Supreme

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Court refused to hear the state's appeal.

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In the end, the clan was permitted

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to sponsor a stretch of highway in Missouri

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on the grounds of free speech. Still,

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Missouri's state legislature got

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the last word on the matter when it responded

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by renaming the highway that the clan

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adopted in honor of Rosa

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Parks. The Adopted

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Highway Program has been a massive

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success since its launched in nineteen

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eighty five, and today tens

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of thousands of volunteer groups help

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keep American roadsides a little bit

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cleaner. It's a testament of

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both the generosity of the country's citizens

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and to their love of recognition and

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big blue signs. The program

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proved instrumental in getting the public more

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invested in the upkeep of the highways

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we all rely on. In nineteen

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ninety two, seven years after

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the launch of the Adopted Highway Program,

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Bobby Evans reflected on that positive

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change in an interview with readers

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Digest. The engineer

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said, quote, Billy Black

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and I keep hearing that attitudes

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have changed. Once you've picked up

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roadside trash, you are unlikely

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to dump any there yourself.

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I think even the fellow and that red

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pickup is coming around our

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way. I'm

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Gabelusier and hopefully

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you now know a little more about history

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today than you did yesterday.

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If you'd like to keep up with the show, you can

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follow us on Twitter, Facebook,

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and Instagram at TDI

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HC Show, and if

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you have any comments or suggestions, you

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can always send them my way at this

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day at iHeartMedia dot com.

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Thanks to Chandler Mays for producing the

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show, and thank you for listening. I'll

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see you back here again tomorrow for

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another day in History class.