By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
As the weather begins to warm up, road construction workers will be out, vulnerable to drivers not paying attention.
Missouri Department of Transportation District Engineer Marty Liles says last year a record number of work zone fatalities happened in Missouri.
"35 fatalities occurred in work zone crashes, which is the highest number of work zone fatalities in Missouri history," Liles tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post.
MoDOT is wrapping up Work Zone Awareness week, which Liles says they hold every year around this time as construction ramps up
"Just trying to make awareness of the upcoming work zones and why it's so important for motorists to pay attention," Liles explains.
Distracted driving contributed to 588 work zone crashes, five of which resulted in fatalities.
Liles says after a record number of work zone fatalities in the state last year, there's a fear it will continue to trend upward
"We've already had our maintenance forces out there doing work, we've already had in the last month two of our attenuators that have been hit trying to protect our workers and the traveling public," Liles says.
Liles says those protective vehicles were hit locally during bridge work on I-29 south of St. Joseph.
Liles says one effort to protect both workers and drivers in work zones is giving plenty of advanced warning
"So as the traveling public is coming up on the work zones, they're seeing well in advance the signage that some kind of work zone is happening," Liles explains.
Liles says work zones are also required to have protective vehicles in place.
"Those protective vehicles are vehicles that if a crash occurs it's there to take the energy of that crash before it gets into the zone and hits one of our workers," Liles says.
Liles reminds drivers as you hit the roads to plan accordingly, buckle up, put your phone down, and be aware of your speed in work zones.
You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.