Blatant roadside dumping on well-traveled ramp raises question about frequency: Roadshow

Q: As another person recently wrote you, I am also annoyed with graffiti and dumping by freeways and on and off-ramps.

I live in Portola Valley and a few years ago took part in a cleanup at the ramp from Alpine Road to northbound Interstate 280. A couple of months ago, I was about to enter this on-ramp. It is a three-way stop. I stopped and waited to make the left turn. To my right, a large commercial truck that had exited I-280 was to enter the intersection before me. Typically, traffic at this stop would take a left turn onto westbound Alpine Road, but the truck went through the intersection and onto the on-ramp for 280 (which the driver had just exited).

“Huh? Maybe they are not familiar with the area?” I thought. As I entered the on-ramp, I saw the truck had pulled off to the left side that has a wide open dirt area. Lo and behold, the truck dumped debris!

There was no license plate on the rear of the vehicle. As I was on an on-ramp, now with traffic behind me, I was not in a position to see the front of the truck, but my guess is there was no plate there, either. I did look to see if there was a business name on the truck. There was not.

In my opinion, the driver knew exactly what and where he was going to dump the load in daylight and on a well-traveled on-ramp. I think it will be very hard to track drivers doing this illegal activity.

Many thanks for your column.

— Elizabeth Sippl

A: Have others seen blatant dumping like this along roads and freeways?