BATON ROUGE, La. – The Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) is making its final sweep of debris from state roads in Washington and St. Tammany parishes.

Freddie Gardner, DOTD program manager, said the final sweep started Wednesday and will end Thursday, Jan. 5, 2006. Gardner said DOTD’s contractor, DRC Inc. LLC, will collect all debris from beside state roads within our rights-of-way through the deadline.

“We urge parish residents to note the deadline for DOTD pickups and put their storm debris out before the deadline of Jan. 5,” he said. “We are all interested in improving how our roads and communities look, so please help us ensure that no debris is placed along the road after that date.

“And residents are reminded that the pickup is only for storm debris, not regular household garbage,” Gardner added.

To date, DOTD has been responsible for the collection of more than 2.5 million cubic yards of debris from state roads since hurricanes Katrina and Rita at a cost of $90 million. To envision the amount of debris, that’s the equivalent of 125,000 garbage trucks full of trash.

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