WASHINGTON (AP) _ A record number of people are being killed in highway work zones as motorists speed through construction areas _ confused, frustrated or both by ever-increasing miles of narrow lanes and orange cones.
In 1999, 872 people died in work zones, more than 700 of them motorists or passengers in vehicles speeding through the construction sites, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The previous record: 828 in 1994.
Increased federal highway spending is fueling a boom in road construction. But the orange cones and lane shifts are unwelcome sights, particularly for motorists already crawling on overcrowded highways.
The number of deaths in work-zone crashes grew 25 percent between 1997 and 1999, as the amount of money spent on highway construction rose. Federal spending on roads grew from $49 billion to $58 billion over the same two-year period, an increase of 18 percent, and rose to a projected $65 billion in the current fiscal year, according to The Road Information Program, a research group financed by the construction industry.
"People are frustrated not being able to move in the fashion they are used to," said Vincent Schimmoller, the Federal Highway Administration's deputy executive director. "That causes, perhaps, drivers to not do the things they should when they're behind the wheel."
Along the Maine Turnpike, for example, construction crews tried to widen the highway while motorists sped by at 75 miles an hour _ 20 mph over the posted limit.
State transportation officials are trying to curb dangerous driving around the work sites. In Illinois, road signs written in a child's hand read, "Please slow down, my daddy works here." Just so motorists get the message, another sign lists the number of speeding tickets that police have written at the work zone.
"If you see a state trooper parked alongside the road, we get very good compliance," said Kansas Transportation Secretary E. Dean Carlson, president of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.
State transportation officials are doubling fines for speeding; requiring that more work be done at night when traffic is lighter; installing more message signs to warn motorists about the work and offer alternatives; putting concrete barriers between the traffic and the workers; trying to keep all lanes open through a work zone to keep traffic moving; and even closing a road entirely in order to speed construction along.
In addition, industry officials say workers need to be trained before going out to a work zone, and motorists need to learn how to drive in construction zones.
Meanwhile, the number of fatalities continues to rise. Lawmakers at a House highways and transit subcommittee hearing Tuesday heard stories of how construction workers lost their lives because motorists sped through work zones.
Dennis Sterndahl, president of the American Traffic Safety Services Association, the trade group for companies that install lighting, guardrails and pavement markings, told of how one of his employees was killed when a driver sped through a work zone and smashed into the pavement marking truck the worker was standing behind.
"It was a real challenge to go back to that section of highway and complete the work," said Sterndahl, who owns Sterndahl Enterprises of Sun Valley, Calif.
Robert Desjardins, president of Associated General Contractors, a construction industry group, also lost one of his employees in a work zone accident when a car drove through the orange cones and crushed the worker against a truck.
"It's just devastating for everyone involved," said Desjardins, executive vice president of the Cianbro Corp. of Pittsfield, Maine. "It's like losing a member of your family when you lose an employee like that. You can't undo the harm that was done but you try to prevent it from happening again."
(Copyright 2001 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
