Shoes dumped on highway to go to needy

MIAMI, Jan. 2 (UPI) -- The Florida Highway Patrol says work crews used brooms to clean up thousands of shoes that fell off a truck and snarled traffic on a Miami highway.

It took several hours to pick up the scores of shoes, boots and sandals that littered the Palmetto Freeway at daybreak Friday.

Traffic was a mess, Lt. Pat Santangelo, an officer with the highway patrol, told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, adding that the owners of the spilled cargo did not immediately come forward and that Miami-Dade County officials were already looking for a charity to give them to.

Soles4Souls, a charity based in Nashville, got in touch with the highway patrol and offered to take the shoes. The group said in a press release that the footwear would be distributed in Haiti.

"These shoes are abandoned property and we're happy that Soles4Souls can make good use out them," Santangelo said.