Adopting Highway For Litter Control Can Be Expensive

Near the end of the Fall 2004 semester I noticed that the last Loop 101 north Arziona Adopt-A-Highway sign prior the Chaparral Road exit was available for adoption. I alerted Student Life and Leadership at SCC about the availability of the sign and the opportunity to do something about litter. [Plus, it would be fun to see Artie Artichoke hanging out on a roadsign everyday on my way to school.]

Student Life and Leadership at SCC made an inquiry about adopting some highway and they learned the following: SCC would not physically clean up the highway; instead, they would provide funding for the city to take care of the project. Adoptions are for two years at a cost of $400.00 per month. There is also a one-time $500.00 setup fee.

[side-bar] Picking up litter is dangerous and this is particularly true given the Loop 101--one of the most deadly roads in the Valley of the Sun. I've seem some amazing traffic while driving the Loop 101 between my home in Tempe and the SCC main campus. Anybody who picks up litter along a freeway is risking their life.

Exercises

1. Compute how much it will cost SCC to adopt a stretch of Loop 101 for two years. [12 months per year]

2. Compute how much the one-time setup fee would be for a company wishing to adopt four sections of highway.

3. If roads were numbered in binary (base-2), Loop 101 would be Loop What? in decimal (base-10).

AdoptAHighway.net:: Corporate Sponsor Adopt A Highway Program

Creator: Gerald D. Thurman [gdt@deru.com]
Created: 23 May 2005


This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.