NASHVILLE, Tenn. – This week is Work Zone Awareness Week in Tennessee.
It's construction season for TDOT crews out on the roads, and workers have an important message for drivers: slow down, and pay attention when you see the caution signs.
Last year alone, 100 percent of fatalities in highway work zones in the state were drivers or passengers.
Crews said they've seen too many close calls.
Workers are usually concentrating on their job, and not worrying about traffic control.
"I have had to jump off a small structure when I first started with bridge inspections jump off into a creek bed because traffic you know was traveling at a high rate of speed," said TDOT Bridge Inspector Wayne Hunter.
"Work zones can be very dangerous for the cars driving through them. A lot of times what happens is people aren't paying attention and they're not prepared for traffic being stopped in front of them, and that's a very typical scenario we see in accidents in work zones," said TDOT Spokesperson B.J. Doughty.
TDOT recently launched some tech-tools so drivers can monitor traffic from smartphones. They now offer a TDOT SmartWay Mobile map on their website.
