Tag: work zone safety

WVDOH Worker In Critical Condition

A West Virginia Division of Highways (WVDOH) road worker was struck by a car in a work zone on Thursday.

Updated on Friday, March 15, 2024 at 3:39 pm.

Clarksburg Police Chief Mark Kiddy said 46 year old Kiley Wagner of Bridgeport was driving the vehicle that hit the DOH worker. Wagner was charged with DUI causing serious bodily injury. She was released from jail on a $5,000 bond. Kiddy said this was not a work zone, but a vehicle accident zone.

This is a developing story and may be updated. 

A West Virginia Division of Highways (WVDOH) road worker was struck by a car in a work zone on Thursday.
 
A WVDOH press release said the worker was part of a crew of three setting up traffic control devices at the scene of an accident on US 50 in Clarksburg when a vehicle crashed into the work zone at about 9:45 p.m. 

The WVDOH employee is in critical condition at Ruby Memorial Hospital with injuries to the head and shoulder

The release noted that all three workers at the scene were wearing hardhats with bright lights, and the work zone was illuminated by flashing lights on the workers’ truck and a flashing arrow sign.

In the release, Transportation Secretary Jimmy Wriston said the most important safety component in the state’s work zones is the person behind the wheel. 

“There would be far fewer accidents if drivers would pay attention and obey the law in work zones,” Wriston said. “That’s what keeps you safe and it’s what keeps our workers safe. Please, hear this: Obey the law in work zones,”

It was not immediately clear what happened to the driver that hit the worker.

New W.Va. Speeding Enforcement Campaign Begins Friday

A targeted, high visibility speeding enforcement campaign will begin this Friday and run through the end of July.

A targeted, high visibility speeding enforcement campaign will begin this Friday and run through the end of July. With the number of statewide highway and bridge construction projects increasing throughout the state, Gov. Jim Justice said Wednesday that work zone traffic will be a targeted priority. 

The West Virginia Governor’s Highway Safety Program has teamed up with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for the effort.  

In 2022, the West Virginia Department of Transportation recorded 800 crashes in work zones across the state that killed eight people and left 276 injured. 

Justice said “If you don’t slow down, you’ll get written up.”

“If you’re absolutely out there and are one of those workers,” Justice said. “And you’ve got somebody coming at 85 or 90 miles an hour, and you’re three feet away from me, how fair is that?”

This campaign follows a recent series of West Virginia work zone safety initiatives, one that began with the paving season, and one that targeted a I-64 work zone project in Cabell County.

Justice said to expect that the latest speeding enforcement campaign would extend into August.

W.Va.’s Paving Season Highlights Work Zone Safety, Zero Fatality Goal

In 2022, there were 800 crashes in West Virginia work zones, killing eight people and injuring 276. The Department of Transportation said all those crashes were avoidable.

In his Wednesday media briefing, Gov. Jim Justice said the 2023 paving season will include 126 projects statewide, covering all 55 counties. 

He said more than 260 miles of highway will be resurfaced and more than 26,500 miles of roadway will be reviewed for pothole patching.

It’s a total investment of $290 million,” Justice said. “Additional miles will be added to the roadways, coupled with the larger projects that are all going on.”

Two larger West Virginia Department of Transportation (WVDOT) road and bridge rebuild projects include stretches of I-64 in Cabell and Kanawha counties.

Five Roads to Prosperity projects are scheduled to begin construction this season, including the replacement of two rural bridges. 

Contractors are replacing the Philip Run Bridge in Calhoun County. Construction is also expected to replace the Middle Fork Bridge in Grant County and the bridge at Hedgesville High School in Berkeley County.

Other plans include repaving Henry Camp Road in Pleasants County, and Liverpool Road in Roane County. Contractors will also soon begin on a $15.3 million project to repave a five-mile stretch of Interstate 64 in Raleigh County, from Airport Road to the Glade Creek Bridge.

Justice pointed out the WVDOT’s interactive online road project map on the Department of Transportation website that shows all underway and pending road projects. 

“Everyone can keep tabs on how much work we’ve completed and everyone can see what’s coming next,” Justice said.

The seasonal workload comes with a work zone safety goal of zero fatalities. There’s an enforcement partnership that has been formed between local, county and state law enforcement with WVDOT work zone managers. Justice said reaching the zero fatalities goal requires a police crackdown and using safe driving habits anywhere near road projects. 

“Traveling up and down the road, at whatever mile an hour it may be, they are within feet of you,” Justice said. “And it’s so easy to have a catastrophe. So please be really careful.” 

In 2022, there were 800 crashes in West Virginia work zones, killing eight people and injuring 276. T

he Department of Transportation said all those crashes were avoidable.

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