Potholes, patchwork and highway safety

It’s spring, and my thoughts turn to…potholes!

That’s not surprising as potholes and assorted problems caused by winter wear on roads, followed by lines of orange construction barrels spouting up along the streets and highways, are a harbinger of spring in many areas throughout the Midwest.

Here in the Detroit area, the local media fills with accounts of cars swallowed up by the black holes of doom and annoyances like bent bumpers, flattened tires and bone-rattling rides as spring brings the winter thaw and the roads hump, flake, break and generally fall to pieces in many places.

Ruined roads and construction obstruction spark a lot of frustration, as daily commutes turn into nightmares for drivers dodging the ever-present potholes and barrels.

But what about the workers who toil to smooth the way for motorists?

A 2008 Traffic Safety Summit report from the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT), seeking ways to improve worker visibility and reduce crashes in road work zones, cites the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Statistics (BLS) as estimating the top cause of worker deaths in work zones as “struck by traffic” at 25 percent.

The BLS reports preliminary fatal work injury figures at 120 in Michigan for the year 2007, with highway crashes among one of the most frequent type of workplace fatalities occurring that year. Nationally, highway crashes also accounted for almost a quarter of workplace deaths.

The good news is that while death due to such highway incidents in Michigan numbered 24 in 2007, that figure represents a decrease from 31 such deaths in 2006.

Perhaps signs urging drivers to watch for highway workers and “give ‘em a brake”, and detailing increased fines in construction zones for speeding and other infractions, contributed toward making roads safer for workers.

MDOT current and retired employees found a unique way to help raise motorists’ awareness of the importance taking care through construction zones, while remembering fellow workers who lost their lives working along the states’ roads.

Visitors stopping at a rest stop in the middle of the mitten at Clare, Michigan along US Highway 127 see a large visual reminder of these perils.

We’ve used the Clare Welcome Center as a convenient stop on our way to northern Michigan for years. It’s one of Michigan’s more elaborate rest areas with amenities like a staffed center offering maps and other tourist information, picnic areas and dog runs. The center sits near several major Michigan highways.

We usually make it our stop after driving mostly freeways from metro Detroit and before hopping on the two-lane M-115 to continue on to northwest Michigan. We usually make this trip at least once every year, so we immediately noticed when a new public art installation appeared on the grounds in 1994.

Seven large steel sculptures representing state highway workers performing activities associated with road work, like surveying, engineering or digging, stand as a memorial to Michigan highway workers who lost their lives working along state roads. One figure stands inside of the welcome center, looking out into the plaza where his six co-workers perform their duties.

MDOT employees, past and present, raised money through an independent effort to fund the project. Sculptor Carl Floyd constructed the project from sheet metal and other materials salvaged from highway jobs.

Today, fifteen years after the installation’s 1994 dedication, the figures still stand sentinel at the welcome center to honor their fallen workers and as a reminder to motorists to take it easy and show a little extra consideration for construction crews working to smooth the road before them.

© Dominique King 2009

Comments

[Amy]

That is very cool.

[Dominique]

Amy-
I've always thought the memorial was a unique tribute and way to raise awareness about highway safety in a particularly well-traveled spot. This particular rest stop seems to be packed with people nearly any time of the day (and we've visited at all times of the day and during all different seasons over the years).
Fortunately, I thought to snap some photos when we were through there last month.
Thanks for stopping by!