April 9, 2018
HIGHWAY DISTRICT 12 – Monday, April 9, 2018 – Work zones will multiply on state roads in the coming weeks. Motorists should be prepared to slow down and pay attention to prevent work zone wrecks. Twelve people died in work zone crashes in Kentucky last year; 233 people were injured, and most of them were drivers and their passengers.
“We want that number to be zero this year,” said Jimmy Queen, Work Zone Safety Coordinator for Highway District 12. “State workers can’t do this alone. People driving the roads must be our partners for safety.”
Asphalt plants re-opened the first of the month. As weather becomes more reliable, drier, and warmer, state highway workers face an intense schedule of maintenance to clean and repair roadways in the seven counties of Highway District 12 – Lawrence, Johnson, Martin, Floyd, Knott, Pike, and Letcher.
Also, a number of major construction projects are scheduled in the coming months. Speed limits may be reduced in these zones. Traffic patterns may change without notice except for the warning signs posted in advance of the work zone.
Pay attention, keep your hands on the steering wheel, and slow down when you see WORK ZONE AHEAD signs. Do not wait until the last possible chance to merge when traffic is directed to one lane. Many work zone crashes are caused by drivers who speed ahead and try to merge just before their lane is blocked. “Not only is this dangerous, it’s rude and unnecessary,” Queen said. “You aren’t saving any time. In fact, if you drive 45 instead of 55 through a five-mile work zone, you only add 1.2 minutes to your travel time.”
Work zones are set up for a variety of maintenance situations: pothole patching; cleaning ditchlines, drains, and culverts; replacing cross drains; shoulder repair; rockfall and slide repair; brush and tree removal and spraying; grader patching; bridge work; fixing breaks and embankment failures; sign removal; roadkill pickup. There are also moving work zones, such as trucks that are striping fog lines and traffic lanes.
“We need to take care of each other on our roads,” Queen emphasized. “The best things you can do as a driver in a work zone are to pay attention; slow down; be patient; follow instructions on the signs; and keep a safe distance on all sides from heavy equipment, highway workers, and other people in the line of traffic.”
If you are traveling outside the district, before you get on the road, check out goky.ky.gov or use the free WAZE app for traffic and travel information. This could help you avoid long delays in construction areas.
The week of April 9-13 is national Work Zone Safety Week. The purpose is to focus people’s attention on how to avoid wrecks in highway work zones. #vestedinwzsafety
