Officials battle safety woes in work zones

Friday, April 5, 2002 | 10:01 a.m.

When a 22-year-old Nellis airman died crashing his sport-utility vehicle through a construction zone on Interstate 15 early Thursday morning, he became the latest fatality in what state officials say is a growing problem.

Too many people are ignoring speed limits and caution signs in construction zones, putting themselves and construction workers at risk, Nevada Department of Transportation Director Tom Stephens said later that day.

Stephens, the Nevada Highway Patrol and other state officials said the accident dramatizes the importance of following the rules in construction zones along roadways. Next week is National Work Zone Awareness Week, and the highway patrol promised increased enforcement of speed limits in the work areas.

"We're out there and we mean business," Trooper Alan Davidson said during a news conference at the NDOT work yard near Cashman Center.

Davidson said he has often seen drivers speeding through construction areas, even when his police car is pulled to the side of the road.

State officials said speeding may have contributed to the death of the airman in the crash, which also injured a construction worker near the Sahara Avenue interchange.

Work zones are dangerous areas for both workers and drivers, Stephens said. About 1,100 drivers died in construction-zone accidents last year, 11 of them in Nevada.

Since 1995, three construction workers have been killed in the work areas, according to NDOT.

Stephens said that as the pace of construction has picked up, so has the likelihood that somebody will be hurt in the zones. He said construction is up 80 percent in the last six years.

"These work zones are well marked," Stephens said. "Please pay attention."

He pointed to road-cleaning equipment that still bears the scars of a highway collision.

"When you see this kind of equipment, slow down," he said.

NDOT employees and construction company contractors are getting new vests, which may more clearly identify them as people. Drivers will know that there are people in work zones when they see the bright yellow vests moving about, Stephens said.