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High on the list of things that go together is the combination of warm weather and highway construction.
Unfortunately, the type of weather that most people consider the best for highway travel also is the best for road construction and repair. With the amount of summer travel and ongoing highway work peaking during the next few weeks, the Virginia Department of Transportation urges motorists to drive defensively.
After decreasing steadily over a seven-year period, the number of fatalities in highway construction and maintenance work areas rebounded dramatically in 1994. Last year, 22 people were killed and 308 were injured in traffic accident in highway work zones statewide. A total of 34 accidents occurred in work zones ip the nine-county Culpeper transportation district during 1994 resulting in injuries to 17 persons. However, there were no work zone-related fatalities in the Culpeper district during 1994.
So far this year, no work zone fatalities have been reported.
“Operating a motor vehicle requires full-time attention every second a driver is behind the wheel,” says David R. Gehr, Virginia’s transportation commissioner. “And, when a work zone is encountered, that means even more concentration is needed. At VDOT, we are constantly evaluating new safety equipment, warning devices and work zone designs. However, our best efforts cannot compensate for that split-second of driver inattention that often results in an accident. We can’t repeat our message to motorists often enough; work zones are dangerous so, when traveling through one, increase your level of alertness and decrease your rate of speed.”
VDOT, with the third largest state-maintained highway system in the nation expects to have more than 600 highway projects under way this summer. These work zones will cause those familiar orange cones to appear on secondary, primary and interstate highways in every area of the state.
There will be numerous construction work zones in the Culpeper district during this year, especially during the late spring, summer and early fall months and the associated warmer temperatures.
Two long-term construction work zones in the district are situated on major highways. These are the U.S. 29 improvement project under way along a two-mile stretch of U.S. 29 immediately north of Charlottesville, and the just-beginning U.S. 17-spur project in the town of Warrenton and Fauquier County.
93.5%