Work zone safety stressed during road construction
Share with others:
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation will mark the start of National Work Zone Awareness Week today by adding a few more to the regional landscape.
While PennDOT is treating today as the official kickoff of the construction season, plenty of projects already are under way, including Interstate 79 bridge work in Marshall, Route 28 construction, Route 19 improvements in Wexford Flats and the South Hills and Crosstown Boulevard rehabilitation.
Starting today are landslide repairs on William Penn Highway in Churchill; gas line work that will restrict McMurray Road in Bethel Park and Upper St. Clair; bridge work at Route 51 and I-70 in Rostraver; and construction on I-79 in Mercer County.
Alternating one-way traffic will continue today on the Boston Bridge between Elizabeth Township and Versailles, and PennDOT has announced that overnight closures tentatively are set to begin this month.
The annual awareness week began in 1999 when several agencies teamed up to launch a national media campaign to promote work zone safety.
There were 667 fatalities and 40,000 injuries in work zone crashes nationwide in 2009. Twenty-three people were killed in Pennsylvania in 2009, the same as in 2008.
"We want to get the message out to the public that 85 percent of those killed in work zones are drivers and their passengers," said Chung Eng, a Federal Highway Administration work zone expert. "How they drive in work zones has a direct impact on their own safety, as well as the safety of workers."
PennDOT District 11 will hold an event in the Route 28 construction zone this morning to promote the safety event and unveil its 2011 construction program.
Among the work starting today is a $2.3 million project to repair a landslide on William Penn Highway between Beulah Road and the Parkway East inbound ramp/Old Gate Road.
First Published April 4, 2011 12:00 am
