About 35 volunteers worked under the Boulevard Bridge Saturday to remove 45 bags of glass and plastic bottles, cans, and convenience store cups tossed from cars as they pass over the deck above.

The volunteers hiked about a half-mile from the North Bank Park along the trails to the area, which also appears to have a consistent amount of homeless residents and part-time partiers visiting and leaving behind garbage. The City of Richmond Department of Public Utilities agreed to remove the bags of trash.

Among the volunteers were hikers from the Central Virginia Trailblazers and students under the supervision of Tricia Pearsall, who spent time painting the concrete pillars under the bridge to cover a substantial amount of graffiti.

I want to thank the volunteers for coming out. This clean up is something I wanted to do for the past two years after looking down from the deck of the bridge and seeing nothing but trash. The James River Park deserves better.

Thank you also to photographer Rich Young, a great friend and steward of the James. Check his flickr page for photos of the large amount of graffiti we removed, which drew a few complaints from parkgoers.