LITTLE ROCK — The Arkansas Department of Transportation (ARDOT) is participating in 2021 National Work Zone Awareness Week (NWZAW), April 26-30. This week is a national safety campaign observed each spring, the traditional start of construction season, to encourage safe driving through highway work zones. This year’s national theme is: “Drive Safe. Work Safe. Save Lives.”
Preliminary data for 2020 crashes in work zones show that most crashes in work zones are rear-ending another driver (46%). ARDOT asks everyone to remember that construction zones can be dangerous for those in vehicles but also for those personnel building improvements for our highways; let 2021 be a year where we see fewer crashes in work zones than we did the year before.
As part of the NWZAW campaign bridges and buildings will be lit with orange lights, including Junction Bridge Pedestrian Walkway, Main Street Bridge, Clinton Presidential Park Bridge, Big Dam Bridge, Two Rivers Park Bridge, Union Plaza Building, and Simmons Bank Building in Little Rock’s River Market District. The Arkansas Heart Hospital in Saline County is also joining the orange this year!
Work Zones are constructed to enhance the safety of both drivers and workers while highways are improved. When traffic laws are not followed in work zones there is an increase in crashes, injuries, and fatalities. ARDOT and partners (Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau, Pulaski County Road and Bridge, Union Plaza Building, Arkansas Heart Hospital, and Simmons Bank) hope to use the National Work Zone Awareness Week to bring attention to the life-saving importance of road user and worker safety in and around work zones.
National Work Zone Awareness Week was formed by the American Traffic Safety Services Association (ATSSA), the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (ASHTO), and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA).
