Keep Polk County Beautiful has expanded its Adopt-A-Road program to include the City of Bartow and the Bartow Community Redevelopment Agency. A volunteer group takes responsibility for a stretch of city roadway, keeps it clear of litter, and receives a recognition sign posted along the road it adopted. There is no cost to participate.
The commitment is deliberately small. A group agrees to adopt both sides of an entire stretch of city roadway. Where a roadway runs longer than a mile, the group may take a one-mile section or the full available stretch, whichever it can reasonably maintain. After each cleanup, the group submits a Wrap-Up Report along with a copy of its signed liability waiver. That is the whole obligation.
Everything else comes from the program. Keep Polk County Beautiful and the Polk County Board of County Commissioners provide the equipment and trash bags, pick up the collected bags, and dispose of the roadside litter. They also erect the recognition signs within adopted roadways that identify the group doing the work, so the effort is visible to everyone who drives the street.
Adopt-A-Road belongs in the CRA District for a straightforward reason. Litter and illegal dumping are the everyday, visible signals of neglect that the agency’s blight elimination mandate exists to reverse. Resurfaced streets, improved storefronts, and rehabilitated homes all raise the standard of a block, and litter quietly lowers it again in the weeks between. This program puts routine upkeep in the hands of the residents, congregations, businesses, and civic groups who use those streets daily, and it reinforces the importance of litter control in the places where it matters most.
The benefits are practical: a cleaner and more attractive District, a recognition sign that names the group responsible, and the plain satisfaction of seeing a street improve because someone decided to look after it. For neighborhoods across Bartow, that is a low barrier to a visible result.
Groups interested in adopting a road in Bartow can contact Keep Polk County Beautiful directly to choose a roadway and get started.
How to Adopt a Road
Contact Keep Polk County Beautiful to select an available roadway in Bartow and enroll your group.
Phone: (863) 875-8911
Email: kpcbeautiful@yahoo.com
