Team 48 is now the proud caretaker of a 2 mile stretch of State Route 305 in Champion, Ohio. Our Delphi team leader's house happens to be situated right in the middle of our cleanup zone - how convenient! I love the publicity this sign gives our team in exchange for a little community service; I only wish we could have incorporated "FIRST" into the sign's caption. Hopefully the sign will help generate some interest in our program from people who previously didn't know a robotics team existed at Harding H.S.
Well, we have a State Route 45 (too bad weâre not in Kokomo, IN) and 46 in our area, but alas, no 48.
The Ohio Department of Transportation sponsors the program. Basically, we are obligated to clean up that stretch of road 1-4 times a year. In return, they put up that sign at both ends of our cleanup zone. Seems like a nice partnership.
I know PENNDOT has a similar program in Pennsylvania. You might want to check with your state DOT and see if they have an Adopt-a-Highway program. Maybe you can get them to start one?
Thatâs awesome [edit: sweet]. The next time Iâm in the area Iâm definately going to stop by and get a picture. Not sure why, but it seems worth going out of the way for Are you allowed repaint the lines to make luxury double-width lanes?
Nope, just litter patrol. Although with the stateâs current budget crunch, I wouldnât be surprised if they put our team in charge of highway maintenance too! In the meantime, maybe we can âvandalizeâ RTE. 305 with our team logo in front of our team leaderâs house and blame it on him? LOL.
Warrenâs a long way from Ithaca. Do you visit this area often?
heres a link for the New York State DOT on adopting a highway Adopt a Highway
âToday, all 50 states have some type of a sponsor-a-highway or adopt-a-highway program in place because there is a very real human need for aesthetically pleasing roadsides in spite of the reality that highway beautification simply cannot compete on an even level with highway safety for ever-diminishing public funds.â
OK, if you didnât find your link above, itâs either because I hate your state or I was too lazy to search for it. :p. Apparently, every state has such a program. I think this is a great way to obtain easy advertising for your team and for FIRST and also provide a service to your community.
If you do get in charge of highway maintenance maybe you could rig a mower deck to your robot and drive it up and down the shoulder mowing. Just think of the attention you will get and the satisfaction of knowing youâre the only one whoâs ever tried mowing a lawn with a drill motor!
After spending hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars traveling across the country in search of a 48 road sign, I finally found one in Brownsville, TXâŚactually, Delphi sent me to Matamoros, Mexico last Monday on some business and Texas Route 48 just happened to be the road that went to the airport. Quite a coincidence considering the conversation in this thread!
I know for certain that up in the Orillia, ON area thereâs at least one highway like this. I imagine itâs elsewhere too, but I havenât noticed them (I havenât really been looking either, though).
I donât care what states have this program, or anything else. All i can say is⌠KUDOS to team 48! I classify, on my team, as the âhippieâ and thus I feel like i was beaten to yet another great idea that I should have pushed my team to do. Pennsylvaniaâs got that program, and I used to be part of a boy scouts troop that adopted a highway. It wasnât so bad, cleaning up trash. Car exhaust= yum. But really, I think that EVERY little piece of community involvement (and community awareness) is absolutely key and awesome and groovy. AMEN!
Let's start getting Woody to promote this concept! (maybe...)
I love the publicity this sign gives our team in exchange for a little community service; I only wish we could have incorporated "FIRST" into the sign's caption. Hopefully the sign will help generate some interest in our program from people who previously didn't know a robotics team existed at Harding H.S.
How does the adopt a highway program work anyway?
Just think of the attention you will get and the satisfaction of knowing youâre the only one whoâs ever tried mowing a lawn with a drill motor! 
