The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation is gearing up for spring cleaning. With a newly revised program, the authority hopes people from across the state will help remove litter from the highways April 28.

As part of its annual Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful Campaign, started in 1979, PennDOT will oversee an Adopt-a-Highway program, said Lugene Keys, PennDOT spokesperson. The program will be a statewide unification of programs to provide standard operating procedures for all clean-up activities.

Several Centre County organizations have helped in the Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful Campaign in the past, such as the Collegiate 4H Club, said Kelsey Lomison, PennDOT Maintenance Department foreman. PennDOT is looking for more participation from University students, he said.

"Penn State could make this thing," Lomison said. "We're looking for lots of students to help us out."

The program was set to kickoff earlier, but the new starting date will prevent a conflict with the Penn State Blue-White football game and encourage more student participation, Keys said.

Volunteers are needed on heavily traveled highways, such as Interstate 80, Route 322 and the Mount Nittany Expressway, because PennDOT cannot send younger individuals into these danger spots, Lominson said.

"I-80 is the worst road in the county," Lomison said. "We need students over 18 to work for us there."

In the Adopt-a-Highway program, organizations pick up litter on a two-mile stretch of state highway at least four times a year, Keys said. In return, PennDOT posts a sign along the adopted highway crediting the organization who cleaned there, Keys said.

"We have worked along a stretch of Route 322 for the last couple of years," said Penn State 4H Club President Bernadette Grosz (sophomore-agricultural economics and rural sociology). "We plan to get involved this year, too."

Groups such as Circle K and Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity have worked in the campaign for the past few years, cleaning up Benner Pike and Route 26, said U. B. Bakker, associate professor of agriculture and extension education.

Each group that adopts a section of highway is given a safety training course. All groups also receive orange safety vests and warning signs to post along their section of the highway, Keys said.

All state highways and township roads are available to be adopted. PennDOT prefers to send groups of no more than six to eight out for each section of adopted highway, Lomison said.

The campaign has been very successful in the past, and interest in the program is still growing, Keys said. Last year, 456 tons of trash were removed from the highways as a result of the campaign, she said.