PICKENS COUNTY – Representatives of Pickens County Adopt-A-Highway will begin a “push” campaign in July and August in hopes to double the county wide volunteer groups that help clean up the highways of the county.

Charles Gill, a member of the Vision 2025 Sense of Place team, said he met with Debbie Sams, the Pickens County Department of Transportation Adopt-A-Highway coordinator on ways to increase the amount groups that sponsor county and city road cleanup.

Gill’s goal for Pickens County is to beautify roadways and remove blight.

Pickens County currently has 64 teams working with Adopt-A-Highway. The goal is to double this number in July and August and then again in 2011. Also in the plan is to include Adopt-A-Highway maps used by Pickens County to keep a real time color coded maps available for residents in Pickens County. This will show where others can get involved in the program. The county wide and city maps will be available on the Vision 2025 Web site at www.pickensvision2025.org.

Pickens County groups picked up 18,000 pounds of trash last year.

To get involved with Pickens County Adopt-A-Highway, visit www.scdot.org/community/adoptahiway.shtml.

Gill is also working on an Easley community cleanup in the Woodside Mill area. The date has been postponed until late summer.