By SALINA POST
With warmer weather comes an increase in roadway work, and both the City of Salina and the State of Kansas are asking motorists to slow down and be more vigilant when traveling through work zones.
On Monday, the Salina City Commission proclaimed the week of April 17-21, 2023, as National Work Zone Awareness Week in the city.
"National Work Zone Awareness Week (NWZAW) is an annual spring campaign held at the start of construction season to encourage safe driving through highway work zones. The key message is for drivers to use extra caution in work zones," nwzaw.org noted on its website.
Additionally, the Kansas Department of Transportation reminds motorists that highway work zones run the length of the construction area.
"The work zone begins with the Road Work Ahead sign and ends with the End Roadwork sign. Work zones are marked with additional signs, including a reduced speed limit. The lower speed limit is to help protect contractors’ construction crews, Kansas Department of Transportation maintenance workers and inspectors. In some places, those workers toil inches away from onrushing vehicles - with only a traffic cone or temporary barrier between them and a potentially deadly crash," KDOT noted in a news release.
The reduced speed limit in work zones also is in place to protect motorists, according to Nick Rogers, KDOT's senior traffic control engineer. Rogers noted that there are a number of reasons to drive the speed limit in a roadway work zone, including the following.
â—ŹThe roadway might temporarily be altered - to channel traffic differently, in a more confined space.
â—ŹThe area just off the roadway might be excavated during the construction.
â—ŹConstruction equipment might have to exit or enter.
Motorists who slow down to the posted speed and pay attention are more likely to avoid a collision, he noted. According to information from the U.S. Department of Transportation, speed was a contributing factor in about one-third of fatal work zone crashes across the nation in the past several years. Additionally, approximately one-fifth of all deadly work zone crashes involved rear-end collisions.
In Kansas, 13 people died in work zone crashes and 341 people were injured in 2022, according to KDOT information.
Rogers noted that while some motorists might think that lower speed limits only apply during the times when crews are on-site working, the opposite is true. According to Kansas law, reduced work zone speed limits on highways applies the entire time the reduced speed is posted. Additionally, fines for speeding in a highway work zone are doubled.
KDOT noted that workers come and go in vehicles that need to be able to slow down or stop when entering and exiting the work site. Additionally, some highway work is required at night or on weekends.
“It’s a very fluid situation,” said Duane Flug, KDOT District Five construction and materials engineer based in Hutchinson.
Flug noted that once the reduced work zone speed limit gets posted, it’s not practical, or safe, to move the speed limit signs to only the spot where work is going on at any given moment. Both Flug and Rogers agreed that setting up work zone signs potentially is one of the more dangerous jobs for workers because they are more vulnerable until motorists realize they need to slow down.
Flug asked that motorists think of the roadway workers they are passing.
“These guys out there are a foot away from traffic. There’s a cone between you and a semi going 70,” he said.