ARTBA Offers Congressional Panel Recommendations to Combat Work Zone Accidents

Contacts:
Matt Jeanneret 202-289-4434 mjeanneret@artba.org	Joe Manero 202-289-4434 jmanero@artba.org	Print this page

Washington, D.C. [July 24, 2001] — All state and local government contracts for highway and bridge work using federal dollars should include earmarked funding for products and activities that protect the safety of motorists and workers in construction zones, the American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) told a congressional panel today.

The recommendation was one of several the association offered at a hearing held by the House Subcommittee on Highways and Transit looking at the tragedy of the nearly 900 fatalities and 37,000 injuries occurring in roadway work zones each year.

"Roadway work zone safety is a complex, multi-faceted problem that, unfortunately, does not lend itself to simple answers," ARTBA Chairman John Wight said. "Imagine if your work desk was literally four feet from cars and trucks moving 65 or more miles per hour!"

The ARTBA chairman, who is executive vice president with the HNTB Corporation in Fairfield, N.J., also urged the federal government to conduct research on the health and safety implications of night roadway construction work. "State and local governments are increasingly requiring night work in an attempt to minimize inconvenience to motorists," Wight said. "Let's make sure we are not compromising motorist and worker safety in doing that."

Wight told the congressional panel that the industry, often working in partnership with the federal and state governments, have many successful worker training, information, and public education programs in place, but much more needs to be done.

At the hearing, the ARTBA chairman detailed what the transportation construction industry is doing to minimize work zone accidents and offered recommendations for action generated at a conference and symposium the association held on the topic in the past year.

ARTBA conducted the first-ever conference to draw attention to roadway work zone safety issues in 1985. The association's foundation manages the National Work Zone Safety Information Clearinghouse, which is housed at the Texas Transportation Institute in College Station, Texas. The facility has the most comprehensive collection of data base searchable information on the topic in the world. It is handling more than 24,000 information requests per year.

The Clearinghouse Internet site can be accessed at http://wzsafety.tamu.edu/. The facility, which received start-up funds from the Federal Highway Administration, is now financially supported by ARTBA, TTI, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, the Laborers' International Union of North America, the CNA Commercial Insurance Company, the National Association of County Engineers and the International Municipal Signal Association.

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Celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2002, ARTBA is the only national association that exclusively represents the collective interests of all sectors of the U.S. transportation construction industry in the nation's capital.

Editor's Note: The complete text of ARTBA's testimony is available online (PDF format 253K).