Off U.S. Highway 160, just outside the town limits of Mancos, workers in bright yellow vests and hard hats repair a culvert beneath passing traffic. Orange cones and large, diamond-shaped signs signal to drivers that this is a work zone, instructing motorists to slow to 40 mph as they approach a temporary stoplight.
“It can be life and death for us out here,” said Abe Jessop, the project superintendent.
On Monday, the Colorado Department of Transportation National Work Zone Awareness Week in front of the La Plata County Fairgrounds, setting out 64 cones draped with hats and vests to honor the 64 roadside workers killed in Colorado work zones since 1929. Five of those deaths occurred in the past 10 years.
Roadside construction crews play a critical role in maintaining the safety and longevity of Colorado’s highways. Jessop and his crew are repairing a culvert, a tunnel that allows water to pass beneath the highway, which helps prevent sinkholes from forming under passing vehicles.
Jessop cited traffic as the biggest hazard for construction crews in a work zone, with distracted driving and speeding increasing the likelihood that drivers could veer toward workers.
On April 8, his crew experienced what Colorado Department of Transportation regional communications manager Adair Christensen described as a “near miss” when a pursuing Colorado State Patrol trooper stopped a dangerous driver a few hundred yards from their work zone near Mesa Verde National Park.
“It could’ve been really unfortunate if the trooper didn’t act fast,” Christensen said.
According to dashcam footage from Colorado State Patrol, a trooper began pursuing a Jeep driving in the shoulder of the opposing lane of traffic about 11 a.m. on U.S Highway 160.
The trooper executed an emergency maneuver by making contact with the suspect’s vehicle, which was traveling 65 mph through the work zone, where the speed limit was reduced to 40 mph. The maneuver stopped the vehicle and prevented the chase from breaching the area where the crew was actively working.
“He spun around right next to our last sign. And it was right before he entered into the work zone going head on into traffic too. It was pretty good timing,” said Michael Smith, the traffic control supervisor at the scene.
The driver, an 81-year-old man, was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence, reckless driving and vehicular eluding.
The incident was a reminder of the dangers of roadside construction work. Crews depend on driver awareness, trusting motorists to use caution as they pass.
Hard hats and vests are an obvious necessity, but behind the scenes is the planning, research and coordination required to protect workers.
For each project, CDOT contractors design a traffic control plan for each work site, which CDOT traffic and safety engineers then review and approve. Workers monitor their surroundings, and traffic supervisors keep a watchful eye, making adjustments as conditions change.
“You can’t get complacent with the traffic,” Jessop said. “The thing we preach is just keep your head on a swivel, be alert and good communication.”
Beyond protecting themselves, crews also take responsibility for keeping conditions safe for drivers, particularly for emergency vehicles and law enforcement.
“If we’re flagging, then we stop traffic and wave the emergency vehicles through,” Jessop said, adding as he gestured near the end of the work zone. “Somebody got arrested over there. They had to stop traffic for about 30 minutes and just let emergency vehicles (and) first responders through.”
Sometimes, too, roadside crews are the front line during emergencies. CDOT inspector Kim Loveridge has monitored sites in desolate stretches of Interstate 70.
“I’ve worked in Utah and I-70 a lot – remote I-70. We were a lot of times first responders for wrecks and everything,” Loveridge said.
Since starting their work, crew members say they have a greater reverence for work zones and the lives at stake within them.
Smith, the traffic control supervisor, learned respect on the job.
“Before, you drive by, you’re like, ‘I got to just stand there with the stop sign all day. That’s easy,’” he said. “And then you get out there, you’re standing out there for 14 hours, you’re like, ‘That’s the hardest job I ever had in my life.’”
Every time Jessop enters a work zone since his career began five years ago, his senses perk up, he’s more alert, and he puts on the brakes. He and his crew watch cars pass all day, so his most pertinent request?
“Stay off your phones because if you’re sending a text coming around that corner and end up in this hole where we’re at, that’s not going to go over well,” Jessop said.
avanderveen@the-journal.com
