New Englanders wait longer than most other Americans for flowers to bloom and the trees to bud in the spring, and maybe the wait makes that blooming much more glorious when it happens. People I know who have moved south in retirement often talk about how much they miss springtime in New England.

Even more visible this time of year in Dorchester is the trash that has accumulated along the Southeast Expressway as it cuts through our neighborhoods. It is viewable not only because the invasive brush along the highway has not yet grown over the trash, but also due to the lack of trees along our stretch of the Expressway.

Over the last three years, I have written about the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (DOT) and the state’s highway department’s negligence in maintaining its property in Dorchester. It seems that the DOT’s only concern is getting cars back and forth, which must be depressing, as we seem to have endless traffic jams that are exacerbated by a completely inept public transit system.

There must be a better way. Though planting evergreen trees would both improve the view and mitigate harmful air pollutants, let’s start with trash.

Assuming that in the nearly 70 years the Expressway has existed there must be a management plan for maintenance of the highway, this year, instead of complaining, my annual letter to Kristen Pennucci, Communications Director for Mass DOT, asked for the schedule for when each section of the highway would get its spring cleaning.

I also asked if there was a schedule for removing graffiti, and I offered to take a ride with her so that she could explain what the DOT considers appropriate maintenance of their land.

Her response: “MassDOT appreciates that most drivers are courteous and do not litter; however, trash cleanup is a year-round activity for crews who patrol state roads. The volume of litter may astound many members of the public.  For example, in general, MassDOT maintenance staff picks up on average about 350-400 tons of trash/litter per year across the state, enough to fill Fenway Park’s playing surface 3 [feet] high. 

“MassDOT crews have many challenges in picking up trash, such as on I-93 between Boston and Quincy where traffic volume is high, the High Occupancy Vehicle Lane is deployed, and the shoulders of the Southeast Expressway are narrow.  MassDOT urges all travelers to be considerate and keep trash inside vehicles into [sic] they arrive at their destinations and can dispose of it properly.

“Anyone observing littering is encouraged to notify law enforcement officers. MassDOT will also be happy to work with our colleagues in the city to donate bags to you if you want to organize a cleanup day.”

So, when suburbanites who get stuck in unending traffic jams throw their trash out the window and it lodges on the visible embankments of Dorchester, it’s problematic for the DOT to clean up, and we should organize volunteers to do the job ourselves?

My response: “It’s hard to believe that, with arguably the part of the highway system with the greatest amount of trash, you wouldn’t have a schedule for trash removal.  And it really is astonishing that you would expect residents of Dorchester to remove trash thrown by cars passing through Dorchester onto highway department land.”

Somehow, I can’t picture Newton residents organizing a cleanup for Route 128.

Massachusetts is one of the wealthiest states in America. We cut taxes by $654 million this year, which will increase to $1.1 billion dollars a year in 2025 and beyond (did we just eliminate the millionaires’ tax benefit?) because we apparently do not need these dollars to maintain our state transportation system.

It’s embarrassing that our highways are messy and graffiti filled, our public transit a disaster. It’s time to bump this problem up the ladder. Gov. Maura Healy recently hired former Boston Transportation Commissioner Gina Fiandaca to be her secretary of Transportation. Ms. Fiandaca should certainly be sympathetic, and might even be interested in ensuring, that residents in high volume traffic areas like Dorchester are treated well.

Perhaps she could take a tour with residents of Dorchester so that we could all understand what the DOT sees as its responsibility toward the communities its highways traverse.  I’ll be sending an invitation.