December 20 , 2006

CONTACT: Josh Spradling
1-800-CLEAN-TX

Keep America Beautiful Presents
Texas Department of Transportation with Partner Award
Keep America Beautiful recognizes State Departments of Transportation during 53rd annual National Conference

Austin, Texas– December 20, 2006 – Keep America Beautiful, Inc. President G. Raymond Empson presented the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) with one of six Keep America Beautiful/U.S. State Department of Transportation Partner Awards at the recent Keep America Beautiful National Awards ceremony. The Keep America Beautiful National Awards were presented during its 53 rd annual National Conference in Orlando.

The Keep America Beautiful/U.S. State Department of Transportation Partner Awards recognizes state DOTs for their support of Keep America Beautiful affiliates through joint partnership projects. These awards were created to recognize the high value Keep America Beautiful places on public-private partnerships.

“Our Partner Award winners exemplify the great success that can be achieved when our state affiliates work with their respective state Departments of Transportation,” said Empson. “Working hand in hand, we can make extraordinary gains in reducing roadside litter and illegal dumping.”

TxDOT annually partners with Keep Texas Beautiful (KTB) and its more than 340 affiliate communities to support programs that focus on beautification, litter prevention, and waste reduction. KTB and TxDOT work closely to remind citizens not to litter through the state’s “Don’t Mess with Texas” litter prevention campaign, and for the past 21 years TxDOT has provided landscape funding for the Governor’s Community Achievement Award, which is administered through KTB.

Each spring, KTB and TxDOT join forces for the Don’t Mess with Texas Trash-Off, the single largest one day cleanup event in the state where nearly 100,000 volunteers offer their time to keep our state beautiful. The event serves as Texas’ signature event of the Great American Cleanup and will next take place April 14, 2007.

The first-place Partner Award winners are: Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, Mississippi Department of Transportation, Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, Tennessee Department of Transportation and Texas Department of Transportation.

In addition to these award-winners, Keep America Beautiful also recognized more than 100 other outstanding organizations and individuals for their achievements in promoting litter prevention, recycling, community improvement and environmental stewardship at its National Awards ceremony.

For a complete listing of all Keep America Beautiful 2006 National Award winners in all categories, as well as information about its awards program, please visit Keep America Beautiful’s Web site at www.kab.org.

About Keep America Beautiful, Inc.
Keep America Beautiful, Inc., established in 1953, is the nation's largest volunteer-based community action and education organization. With a network of nearly 1,000 affiliate and participating organizations, Keep America Beautiful forms public-private partnerships and programs that engage individuals to take greater responsibility for improving their community environments. To learn more about Keep America Beautiful, visit www.kab.org.

About Keep Texas Beautiful
Keep Texas Beautiful, a leading grassroots community improvement and environmental organization and affiliate of Keep America Beautiful, educates and engages Texans to take responsibility for improving their community environment. KTB works with government, businesses, civic groups, and volunteers to ensure that every Texan has the opportunity to take individual responsibility for making Texas the cleanest, most beautiful state in the nation. For more information on KTB programs and events, call 1-800-CLEAN-TX or visit www.ktb.org

- ### -