San Diego’s 1-Woman ‘Freeway Patrol’ Makes Clean Sweep of Debris

Debra Warnholtz drives a snowplow and hunts ostriches. It’s all in a day’s work.

She is the state highway department’s “Freeway Patrol,” mopping up after messy drivers who drop everything from refrigerators and sofas to household pets and surfboards in the lanes of the freeway network.

How does she remove heavy junk from the fast lane?

“Verrry carefully,” the 28-year-old California Department of Transportation worker quips, chuckling at the opportunity to crack the well-worn joke one more time.

Actually, Warnholtz--better known as 719 (her call numbers) to associates--calls in the California Highway Patrol or a Caltrans crew to create a traffic break, then lowers her snowplow near the pavement to shove the traffic hazard off to the side of the roadway, where, she hopes, she’ll get some help in carting it away to the Caltrans yards in Kearny Mesa or to some other freeway graveyard.

Most of her finds end up in the dump, too battered to be usable, but some surviving valuables find their way back to their original owners through a Caltrans lost-and-found pipeline.

Warnholtz’s ostrich hunt occurred last week after motorists reported one of the big birds lying by the side of California 163 where it winds through Balboa Park. Zoo officials notified Caltrans, and Caltrans notified 719. Warnholtz responded from her precarious perch where eastbound and westbound Interstate 8 traffic merges into southbound Interstate 805 and where she had been picking up pieces of circuit board fallen from a Gremlin.

With a convoluted circle-8 maneuver on off-ramps, on-ramps and surface streets, Warnholtz headed southbound through Balboa Park, lecturing all the while.

“You have to always be looking way ahead,” she advised while skillfully sideslipping a stalled motorist and moving back onto the narrow shoulder of the roadway where the bird had reportedly been seen. “And you can’t go very fast or you’ll pass right by. I did a lot of that my first week out.”

The “ostrich” turned out to be a hefty palm tree corm, its matted fronds resembling the tattered plumes of a giant bird. So 719 was 10-98 (assignment completed--available) and headed for the next challenge: metal in the No. 4 lane of I-805 north of Genesee Avenue.

Warnholtz, who started her Caltrans job in March, had never had an ostrich call before, but she has buried a few deer, dozens of pets, plenty of possums and some skunks.

“I’ve dug a lot of graves,” she said. When the roadside earth is too hard for digging, she takes the carcass to a pre-dug Caltrans pit for interment. The 20-foot-long, 3-foot-deep slit trench is nearing capacity from her efforts.

“I told them they’d better be digging me another,” Warnholtz said.

“It’s not right that people allow their dogs to ride in the backs of pickups. Animals trust their masters, and that’s an irresponsible thing to do.”

Unworried Over Danger

Warnholtz brushes aside questions about the danger of her job, launching into an explanation of the safety gear and equipment at her command. There is a lighted signboard that can be raised over the cab of her heavy-duty truck and activated to show moving arrows directing traffic away from a highway hazard she is attempting to clear. A revolving amber light also adds to her authority.

The familiar orange Caltrans vest and white hard hat make her stand out against the drab, oil-stained freeway pavement, but her red hair and tight jeans often cause passing motorists to do a double-take.

“I used to work out four or five times a week, but I haven’t done a bit since I took this job,” Warnholtz said. “I get enough exercise and plenty of fresh air at work.”

Warnholtz’s 6-year-old daughter, Lindsay, thinks her mom’s new job is “disgusting,” and Warnholtz’s mother shakes her head and sighs, wondering what her tomboy daughter will be up to next. But Warnholtz herself is satisfied, for the time being, at least, with her bizarre occupation of cleaning up after messy motorists.

She found the job by responding to a Caltrans circular pinned up in a state employment office seeking a Latino female who didn’t mind getting her hands dirty and was interested in landscaping.

Warnholtz is not Latino, but she took a chance that paid off and gained her what she wanted--an outdoor job where she is mainly on her own. Previously, she had been a security officer with a large San Diego department store, spying on customers suspected of shoplifting and on employees with their fingers in the till. It was not her cup of tea.

Now she is housekeeper for most metropolitan highways within the San Diego city limits: Interstates 5, 8, 15 and 805; California routes 52, 94, 163, 209 (along Point Loma to Cabrillo National Monument) and 274 (Balboa Avenue from Tierrasanta west to Pacific Beach).

Warnholtz gathers two, three or four truckloads of trash on her daily rounds, more on Mondays when the weekend debris builds up, and a bumper crop at the beginning of the month when do-it-yourself movers are most active.

Furniture Galore

She has found stoves and refrigerators, a water bed frame complete with foam padding, assorted chests of drawers, sofas and chairs. Warnholtz hasn’t been around long enough to see the seasonal changes in junk, but fellow workers tell her that the summer trash is dominated by swim fins, beach towels, surfboards and an abundance of lightweight cooler lids.

All-season favorites are ladders and car parts--tire treads from recaps, bumpers, fenders, grills, hubcaps galore and auto innards that apparently dropped out without disabling the vehicle.

One of the trickier types of trash to retrieve is plastic sheeting, which wreaks havoc among motorists as it blows erratically with the freeway traffic currents, obstructing views and causing cars to swerve. Warnholtz goes beyond her freeway bailiwick to gather up plastic materials, fearful that an ill wind may blow them back into traffic again.

Why people tempt fate and the laws of gravity by carrying valuable loads without proper tarp or net coverings and without sturdy tie-downs is beyond Warnholtz’s understanding.

“It’s amazing that they just drive away and leave valuable things just lying there,” she said, adding thoughtfully, “I guess freeway traffic can be intimidating.”