ARTBA, Other Groups Urge FHWA to Improve Worker Safety

What happened: ARTBA has led five other transportation construction advocacy groups in urging the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to strengthen roadway construction worker safety provisions. The American Concrete Pavement Association, American Highway Users Alliance, American Traffic Safety Services Association, Laborers Health and Safety Fund of North America, and the National Asphalt Pavement Association also signed a Jan. 6 letter to the agency, which is developing a Work Zone Safety Strategy Plan (WZSSP), a non-regulatory guidance document.

Why it matters: Nearly 200 roadway construction workers are killed and thousands more injured annually while laboring to improve the nation’s infrastructure. These “vulnerable road users” need enhanced protections to do their jobs without risking their health and lives, the letter says. It urges FHWA to:

• adopt and enhance measures to promote automated speed enforcement;
• reduce work zone intrusions through enhanced positive protection;
• deploy new technologies to warn and advise motorists;
• reduce speeds during temporary traffic control deployment; and
• encourage the use of safety contingency funds approved through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act signed into law in November.

What’s next: FHWA will meet with key stakeholders in the coming weeks to review feedback it has received for the WZSSP. The final document is intended to provide insight and focus for the industry to work cooperatively to improve work zone safety for all affected parties, including workers, motorists, cyclists, and pedestrians. ARTBA sees the WZSSP as important guidance to state DOTs, local governments, and the private sector as they strive together to improve work zone safety.

Visit ARTBA at TRB

ARTBA joins the National Work Zone Clearinghouse at the Transportation Research Board’s 101st Annual Meeting, Jan. 9-13, at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. See us at Booth #551 in Hall E. If you can’t attend, check out the new work zone safety courses at ARTBA’s Online Learning Management System. Contact ARTBA’s Robinson Vasquez for training opportunity details.