STATEWIDE – Today, the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) officially kicked off its 2007 summer construction season and its Slow for the Cone Zone campaign, which targets unsafe driving practices in work zones across the state for the duration of the summer. Joining CDOT was the Colorado State Patrol (CSP), the Colorado Contractor’s Association and dozens of CDOT maintenance employees.

“This summer, CDOT will have over 100 construction cone zones on Colorado highways and interstates, not including maintenance work zones,” said CDOT Executive Director Russell George. “When you add in city and county construction projects, motorists are very likely to encounter several cone zones in a week. To prevent work zone crashes and fatalities, we need motorists to focus on safe driving practices when traveling through every work zone.”

In 2004 (the most recent statistics available), 1,906 crashes occurred in Colorado work zones resulting in 768 injuries and 14 deaths, two of which were CDOT employees. What motorists don’t realize is the majority of work zone fatalities are motorists and not highway workers and almost all accidents can be prevented.

“Most work zone crashes are a result of careless driving behaviors such as speeding and are preventable,” said Chief Mark Trostel of the Colorado State Patrol. “If we all individually take responsibility for our actions behind the wheel and follow positive driving behaviors, we can all return home safely each night.”

To help improve safety on our highways, the Slow for the Cone Zone campaign will once again include a major enforcement component with overtime law enforcement targeting select work zones across the state. CDOT is providing a safety grant for $118,000 to the Colorado State Patrol and additional funding for other local agencies including the Colorado Springs Police Department.

“The presence of our troops within work zones has proven to help make our cone zones a little safer as we have seen a slight decrease in work zone accidents since the campaign started several years ago,” added Trostel. “This year, our activities will be no different as we will continue to target and ticket motorists who are unsafe and careless in the work zones. Those who receive citations in a work zone will face doubled fines.”

Safety enforcement activity will be increased throughout the state this summer. Some of the highlighted projects include:

· I-70 between Morrison Road and Chief Hosa- Resurfacing
· I-70 between Silverthorne and the Eisenhower Tunnel- Resurfacing
· US 287 between Springfield and Lamar- Reconstruction
· Powers Boulevard at Woodman Road- Interchange reconstruction
· I-25 through Colorado Springs (COSMIX)- Widening and reconstruction
· I-70 between Clifton and Palisade- Resurfacing
· I-25 between State Highway 52 and State Highway 119- Widening
· State Highway 145 west of Telluride (Keystone Hill)- Reconstruction
· I-76 between Sheridan Boulevard and I-25- Median guardrail installation

“Work zone safety needs to be carried through to all work zones, whether it is a construction project or a maintenance activity” added George. “CDOT has lost 22 employees in work zones over the years and five of those fatalities have occurred in the last four years. We hope this campaign will help prevent future tragedies involving CDOT workers, other highway workers and motorists, but we all need to do our part to keep our highways safe.”