Roadside Beauty -- A Texas Tradition Page: ATTACHMENT
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"Beautiful, Beautiful Texas ~ Where the beautiful bluebonnets grow --- We're
proud of our forefathers -~- Who fought at the Alamo. --- You can live on the
plains or the mountain --- Or down where the seabreezes blow ~ And you're
still in Beautiful Texas ~ The most beautiful place that I know."G governor W. Lee O'Daniel wrote the words to
"Beautiful Texas" back in 1933. But the highway
department got involved in keeping our state
beautiful even before that.
A Little History...
In 1930, then-State Highway Engineer Gibb
Gilchrist instituted a policy of preserving trees
along the highway right-of-way. One memo to
division and resident engineers, maintenance
superintendents, and county foremen outlined a
policy for tree preservation. Adding a literary
benediction to his plea, Gilchrist closed that
particular departmental communication by
quoting, "for the information of those who have
not seen it," Joyce Kilmer's immortal poem,
"Trees," in its entirety.
Three years later, Gilchrist hired a young land-
scape architect for the department and challenged
him to make the highways beautiful. In a letter to
all division and resident engineers, Gilchrist
said, "...I want you to work with him and give
him every assistance in the beautification of
highways."- V. Lee O'Daniel
The beautification program, then as now, had a
twofold purpose: The most obvious one, of
course, was to add scenic beauty along the state's
highways. The second one was to add safety to
highway travel.
A booklet entitled "Suggestions for Roadside
Development," published by the department in
1935, contained detailed drawings for placement
of trees and shrubs to focus attention on hidden
curves, unexpected hazards, and traffic signs.
Although the straight highways built in the early
days were less costly in land acquisition, they
proved to be more costly in maintenance when
erosion stripped the soil from the steep slopes and
deep ditches. The department's emphasis on plant-
ing trees and shrubs eliminated this problem and
did away with the "monotony of sameness" that
drivers faced on the long, straight Texas
highways.Current Programs...
The extent of the department's commitment to
highway beautification is evident in its policy of
dedicating 1 percent of the funds for new highway
construction to landscaping.
That commitment includes several other
programs as well, most of them with community
involvement:
* DON'T MESS WITH TEXAS is the battle cry
for the highway department's war on litter.
Spokesmen for the media campaign have included
Texas musicians and sports figures. The campaign
was begun in 1985, in response to annual litter
pickup costs that had reached $20 million, and were
increasing in 15 to 20 percent increments each year.
After the first year of the campaign, studies con-
ducted by an independent research organization
indicated a reduction of 29 percent in litter along
Texas roadways. In addition to receiving statewide
publicity, the effectiveness of the campaign has
been noted in The New York Times and Time
magazine.
* THE ADOPT-A-HIGHWAY PROGRAM
allows civic, fraternal, school, and other organiza-
tions to formally adopt a section of roadway on the
state highway system for litter pickup. To date
more than 1,200 groups have adopted sections of
roadways in Texas. Although requirements vary
from one highway district to another, generally
two to three miles of roadway are adopted for a
cleanup at least three times each year. If your group
would like to adopt a section of roadway, contact
your nearest highway department office and ask for
the name of the District Adopt-a-Highway Coordi-
nator, or call the department's Travel and Informa-
tion Division in Austin at 512/463-8588.nignways. rruixi uOne nigi
' two to three r
d ^w cleanup at leasi
would like to
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Texas. Travel and Information Division. Roadside Beauty -- A Texas Tradition, pamphlet, 1987~; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1544244/m1/2/: accessed July 11, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.