The more serious problems I see are out in the middle of nowhere (and we in New Mexico have lots of “middle of nowhere” to deal with) where sweeping is impractical due to the distances involved and lack of priority. I nearly broke the tandem this year riding over rumble strips on US 84/285 trying to dodge broken glass during the Santa Fe Century. At one point, I noted after an excursion over rumble strips that our front quick release had released.

That’s why a clever way to reduce the tossing of trash onto the shoulders would be good. In Hawaii, the Hawaii Bike League would partner with the Hawaii Sierra Club in an effort to get a mandatory deposit/bottle bill passed.

Another way is to support State Bike Routes. If one can get these designated for higher levels of preventative and corrective shoulder maintenance, its worth the fight.
http://nmshtd.state.nm.us/main.asp?secid=15675

One has to indeed be careful of whom one blames when these are installed wrong. I’ve seen examples of cosmic disconnects between contractors and government, including one case where we had to chew out a contractor for putting up a non-MUTCD sign telling cyclists and motorists to ride side by side in a narrow construction zone lane because the contractor was clueless about the W11-1 / W16-1 sign. Motorists thought we were being willful violators for taking the lane!

One problem, at least where I live, is that the part of the shoulder to the right of the rumble strip is often the filthiest while the fog line or shoulder just to the right of the fog line is cleanest. Whatever advantage one might think one has by riding farther right might be carefully contemplated while one is picking glass out of one’s tires.

But rumble strips are not going away. We have to pick our battles wisely. Perhaps pushing for mandatory recycling and bottle deposit laws are the best we can do in some cases. Back a a misspent youth ago in Suffolk County, NY, such laws were Campagnolo-sent.