SPOKANE, Wash. – According to the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT), 61 people have been killed in the state of Washington while working on roads since 1950.
April is national work zone awareness month, so WSDOT East spoke about how they keep their workers safe during this crucial month.
There are a number of ways that they do so.
One way is by shutting down a lane of traffic if they are doing work on the shoulder. Especially if the shoulder is small, they may close a lane to give their workers extra room.
They also put rumble strips at the edge of their project to wake up any drivers headed off the road.
They have added LED markers to flash so people can see the work zone from a distance.
They often put multiple vehicles with signs and lights to warn you as you get closer to a project. In case someone misses one or two of them, hopefully they see the third.
Ryan Overton with WSDOT East says they widen work zones to protect their team.
“So that’s because these can be quite extensive closures is because we’re trying to warn the public that there are people [there],” said Overton. “All of them have families that they want to go home to at the end of the day so we want to keep them safe.”
