TDOT asks drivers to ‘Work With Us’ to keep crews safe

JACKSON, Tenn. — The summer and spring months may indicate longer and warmer days ahead, but it’s also a time when highway workers are put at higher risks along highways and roads.

“We do believe it is everyone’s responsibility to make sure they work with us to move over and slow down when they see highway worker and first responders out on the highways,” said Tennessee Department of Transportation Community Relations Officer Nichole Lawrence.

TDOT created the “Work With Us” campaign in hopes of preventing work zone deaths.

“Unfortunately in 2016, we lost three,” Lawrence said. “So that’s when we started this Work With Us campaign because we have dangerous jobs, those guys that are out working on the roads and trying to improve the transportation system around the state.”

There are several work zone safety messages displayed across the state to help raise awareness of the cause, and 112 markers were displayed at Highway 76 on Interstate 40 to represent the 112 workers that have been lost since 1948.

Several projects are now underway in the county.

“They’re improving the intersection at Casey Jones and Carriage House and as well as widening the interstate to three lanes through that area,” Lawrence said.

And with those projects spanning several years, workers will constantly risk their lives every day. Besides safe driving, Lawrence says during these projects they want you to pledge safety to our highway workers.

“On Wednesday we’re asking our working and everyone really to wear orange to help memorialize and honor those that have fallen in the past,” Lawrence said.

TDOT will post informational graphics and videos on social media all week to broaden awareness of the importance of driving safely. For more about TDOT’s “Work With Us” campaign and how you can pledge for safety, visit the Seen On 7 section of our website.