Respect and Remember

It's an honor, but it is a grave honor. MoDOT was selected to host the "National Work Zone Memorial - Respect and Remembrance: Reflections of Life on the Road." The traveling memorial, maintained by the American Traffic Safety Services Foundation, is a tribute to the memory of those who lost their lives in the nation's work zones - workers, drivers, passengers, police officers and emergency responders. It travels to communities year-round. The intent is to raise public awareness of the need to respect and stay safe in America's roadway work zones. The memorial will stand in the St. Louis Galleria from Tuesday, April 24 until Sunday, April 29, 2012. We don't want the memorial to be any larger when it returns to Missouri some day. Please - when you see a work zone sign - mind your speed, pay attention (turn down the tunes and put down the phone) and be alert for the unusual. To learn more about work zone safety, visit www.modot.org/workzones

Know Before the Cones

It's the time of year when you're likely to see orange.Though MoDOT's construction budget is down, there are plenty of opportunities for those orange cones to appear in your windshield. Here are a few websites that can help you learn which highways have lane and bridge closures:


www.modot.org/tim - The map you use to check winter road conditions also provides the location for work zones. Use the interactive map link in the upper left corner to zoom in for a closer view.

www.modot.mo.gov/safeandsound - We're in the middle of a five-year program to fix 800 bridges. This summer, hundreds of bridges get a makeover. To complete the projects as quickly as possible, most bridges are completely closed. Go to the Safe & Sound site to learn which bridges are under construction, which are planned to start in the next several months and which will wait. The interactive map makes finding those on your routes easy.

www.modot.org/workzones - Visit this page to tell us how we're doing. Rate our work zones and let us know how we can improve. Do you have a suggestion or did we cause a problem? Let us know.

As always, you can call 1-888-Ask-MoDOT for questions, or visit www.modot.org.

Being Barrel Bob is Busy Business

Educating travelers around Missouri about work zone safety is hard work, and let me tell you, I have earned my stripes. Since Work Zone Awareness Week kicked off on April 4, I have been busy touring the state and telling everyone about keeping safe in work zones. You have to keep your eyes open though, because you never know where you’ll find me. The following are just a few of the places I’ve been spotted over the past few weeks:

In the Kansas City area, I’ve been seen on Interstate 70 and Interstate 435 as you enter the work zone close to the Blue Ridge cutoff. If you look closely, you may notice my partner Barrel Betty by my side.

In Mid-Missouri, I’ve been in work zones on Route 50 in Cole County, the downtown MoDOT General Headquarters building during the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission meeting, the westbound Interstate 70 rest area in Boonville for awhile, then in Benton County along Route 65 in Warsaw just south of Route 7. Currently, motorists can find me along westbound Route 54 at the Route Y interchange in Camden County.

In the St. Louis area, I began the week at the Page Avenue construction project on Interstate 270, visited the Chain of Rocks rest area, worked at the Traffic Management Center in West St. Louis County, at Interstate 44 and Bowles Avenue near Fenton for a resurfacing project and I even attended the Meet the Machines event on Lake Bluff Drive.

In my off time, I provide regular updates of my travels, as well as photos, radio spots, and sometimes even funny comments on my personal Facebook page. In fact, you might even say I’ve become somewhat of an international phenomenon since I currently have fans from eight different countries, several states and many cities. My fans even speak more than five different languages! But, no matter how you say it – my message is still the same … Don’t Barrel Through Work Zones! Keep on the lookout for me in a work zone near you.

Work Zone Safety - A Testimony

As work zone awareness week comes to a close, David Bower, a MoDOT employee in the Kansas City district, shares his story of why work zone safety is personal. While National Work Zone Awareness Week ends today, we'll be working throughout the construction season to raise awareness of safe driving through work zones. Look for more information at www.modot.org/workzones.

Traumatic events typically get lodged into the memories of individuals. Looking back to the events of an otherwise normal weekday in August 1996, they remain ever-present today.

The passage of this day was typical, nothing extra ordinary until late in the day when the stadium maintenance crew began taking down their work zone. For those who are unaware, work zone setup and take-down is often the most critical and highest-risk part of an operation. This is something I experienced firsthand having worked as a maintenance worker in overhead signing. There is an initial unfamiliarity of lane transitions for drivers, not to mention the congestion that occurs when drivers adjust to these changes.

Today was different though. With a promotion to an office position in Maintenance Operations, the responsibilities of two-way radio dispatch came with it. A new job classification meant there was very little to do except to communicate to others.  

The call came over the radio, “We’ve been hit! We’ve been hit!”

From the district office my response was “MoDOT4, go ahead.”

The caller responded, “They’ve hit the light trailer, we have men down!”

The urgency of the voice was present --it had to be bad and we needed to get more details.

My response was, “I need you to take a deep breath and answer my questions."

Meanwhile, several other employees entered the radio work area, ready to offer their support, assisting wherever needed. Turning to another employee, I asked them to get a 911 dispatcher on the phone. The finite details: route, cross street, direction of travel, number of injured employees, whatever we could relay to emergency services was given. The events seemed lengthy at that time; however in reality, were only a few short minutes.

In that time the smoothness of coordination was exceptional. Field operations were communicating with the district office and we were relaying to emergency services. Operations management and staff automatically mobilized and took to the field. We had part of our MoDOT family in need and everyone was answering the request for assistance.

In a nutshell, this is what had happened. While MoDOT employees were taking down the work zone, a motorist had collided with the arrow-board-style light trailer, which Raymond McKelvy and Jorge Bermudez were connecting to the back of their truck.

It wasn’t until everything was finished that the accident really hit home. You see, when I hired in, I worked on the stadium campus and knew Raymond and Jorge personally. These were friends, coworkers, employees with families.

We know smaller traumatic events don’t always garner media attention.  They don’t burn into the minds of the masses. Perhaps they should, perhaps the reality of potential fatal situations in highway work zones should be a call to our driving public, to slow down and draw cautionary attention. The reality is … it seldom does.

I remember where I was during the first and second space shuttle catastrophes.  I remember where I was when the twin towers fell. I will remember the details of that day in August 1996.

Work Zone Safety is Personal

As part of work zone awareness week, we asked employees why work zones are personal to them and to motorists. 

Why is work zone safety important to Cory March, maintenance crew leader in Lancaster? 

"Everyone needs to take into consideration the importance of work zone safety. We all have families to go home to at night or would like to see again. 

Learn, practice and get to know work zone safety. Our lives depend on it."

Even Barrel Bob couldn't say it better. Don't barrel through work zones!

Work Zone Survey Brings Public Into the Solution

You are MoDOT’s customers. You are the ones who fund our roads and bridges. You are the ones who drive through our work zones every day. You are the people we serve.

And we need your feedback.

Work zones are a fact of life. Whether we’re building a new bridge or filling a new pot hole, MoDOT is going to be on the road improving and maintaining Missouri’s infrastructure throughout the summer. And we want to make the experience as smooth and safe as possible.

Yes, there will be delays. Yes, some drivers will be irritated with them. But we want to make sure we’re doing everything we can to minimize both those realities.

That’s where you come in. On the homepage of our website at www.modot.org, you’ll see a button at the bottom of the page that takes you to our Work Zone Survey. (You can also go directly to the survey at http://www.modot.mo.gov/workzones/Comments.htm)

There, you can fill a short survey about your experience driving though MoDOT work zones that we will use to monitor and improve them.

MoDOT reviews all the surveys we receive. We take them very seriously. There is even an option for us to contact you if you want us to.

You can help us improve our work zones by participating in the process. We know if a work zone meets your expectations, we’re doing something right. If it doesn’t, we may need to try something else.

One more thing: Don’t fill out the form on your cell phone while you’re driving! Wait until you’re home or parked safely somewhere. Duh.