Township Councillor Bob Long says drivers arriving in Langley from Highway 1 are seeing too much trash on the road.
Long says he was “appalled” to learn the overpasses people use to exit the highway into Langley Township are only getting cleaned every 120 days.
The result is “the buildup of litter to an unsightly level” and a less-than-attractive first impression for visitors, Long told the Monday afternoon meeting of Township council.
The overpasses are under the control of the provincial ministry of highways, which sets the maintenance standards for the private contractors who perform the street sweeping and other cleaning.
“What’s reasonable is to keep it clean,” Long said.
The rest of council agreed, supporting Long’s proposal to lobby the minister of transportation and local MLAs for closer monitoring and more frequent litter pickup.
The maintenance of all provincial roads in B.C. was privatized in 1987, with 2,280 provincial employees transferred to the newly-created private road and bridge maintenance companies.
One study suggests the change saved the government about 10 per cent a year on road maintenance.
The highways ministry issues 10-year highway maintenance contracts on a region-by-region basis to cover surface maintenance (pavement patching, graveling and grading), drainage, landscaping, signs and emergency maintenance and repairs.
