The call a highway supervisor fears
Kansas Department of Transportation
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3y ago
My name is Troy Whitworth and I have spent the past 29 years working for KDOT in some capacity; whether it was as a front line worker, Supervisor or Manager. I spent the majority of my early career based in the Kansas City area working on multi-lane highways with high traffic counts. Troy Whitworth As a Supervisor and Manager, the worst news you can receive is the call saying one of your people has been hurt while working on the road. I received one of those calls one night - an employee of mine had been struck by a vehicle while he was providing traffic control for an accident scene ..read more
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Nothing surprises me anymore
Kansas Department of Transportation
by
3y ago
 When you’re out on the roadway for a living, you hear, see and sometimes even experience scary moments.  My name is Kenny Olson and I’m a Roadway Striping Foreman. I’ve been with KTA for 12 years and I have had more close calls on the roadway than many would think. Just last summer, I had vehicles hit at two different times while painting roadway lines. Kenny Olson One of these was in Wichita on the entrance ramp from the K-96 plaza. We were painting the white line on the right side, early in the morning when a driver came down the entry ramp way too fast. Because of her spe ..read more
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Sometimes other drivers put us in bad situations
Kansas Department of Transportation
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3y ago
 Trooper Ben Gardner My name is Ben Gardner and for 18 years, I've been a state trooper for the Kansas Highway Patrol.  During my time, I've responded to numerous crashes involving damage, injuries, or death.  Many of these crashes blur together and get forgotten in my mind. Some will stay with me until the day I no longer wear this uniform and beyond.  It's easy to bet that most officers remember the first crash they ever responded to while on duty - this is true for me as well.  The first crash I responded to involved a KDOT grader, which was driving east on ..read more
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If drivers could see what we see
Kansas Department of Transportation
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3y ago
By Ross Weber I am Ross Weber and I am the Hutchinson Branch Manager for APAC-Kansas, Inc. Shears Division. Ross Weber We spend a lot of time making our work zones safe. It is planned for in our pre-bid evaluations and followed up on throughout the project. We analyze how we can protect our employees from the public as well as how we can protect the public from us. When we see something in our plan isn’t working, we make changes to the situation. Work zones are a change to the normal traffic pattern. We train our employees constantly about avoiding distractions while in the work zone ..read more
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My look on traffic control
Kansas Department of Transportation
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3y ago
By Derrick Shannon I started working for KDOT in August of 2002 on the Garnett Area Crew and am now the  Derrick Shannon Area Superintendent in Iola. The first time I was assigned to flag was on K-68. The crew was putting a hand rail back on a bridge that a car had taken off.  Back then, we used three signs and no cones.  It took about 10 minutes to put up the traffic control.  I was handed the paddle and radio and told to stop traffic.  I got right to work. The morning went fine with cars and trucks stopping as they should.  Just after I went back to my f ..read more
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2017 National Work Zone Awareness Week
Kansas Department of Transportation
by
3y ago
Starting Monday, April 3 and running to Friday, April 7, new blogs will be posted each day as part of our National Work Zone Awareness Week series. Highway workers, contractors and law enforcement will share stories highlighting why work zone safety is so important. For a variety of transportation-related articles, please check our other KDOT blog site that posts stories and photos several times each week – it's at http://kansastransportation.blogspot.com ..read more
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#ITCANWAIT
Kansas Department of Transportation
by
3y ago
We wrapped up our eighth annual Put the Brakes on Fatalities Day blog series. Thank you so much to everyone who participated, and a special thank you to U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx for being a part of this series for the last several years. Some of these were heartwarming stories, and some of these were stories about tragedies. But they all showed why traffic safety is so important. Every time you get in a car, in a truck, on a motorcycle, on a bike, or even walking, getting safely where you are going must be the priority. Yesterday, Oct. 10, was the official day to celebrat ..read more
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It’s bad, really bad
Kansas Department of Transportation
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3y ago
By Cheryl Carlson Jordan and Bailey On a bitterly cold morning in January 2013, I was on my way to work deep in my own thoughts about what the day would have in store for me. Little did I know that tragedy had already struck our family. My cell phone rang and my grandson, Wyatt, was calling to tell me that his sisters had just had a bad accident on their way to school. He was panicked and crying and I could barely understand what he was telling me. He said, “Grandma it’s bad, really bad.” I drove directly to the accident site where other family members, police, ambulance and EMS had ..read more
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Tragedies that can’t be reversed
Kansas Department of Transportation
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3y ago
By John Milburn There’s an old saying I’ve heard from veterans describing war or vacationers coming back from an exotic locale: you wouldn’t understand until you’ve been there yourself. In a way, I have been when it comes to traffic crashes. Oh, I’ve had a few fender-benders, but nothing like what I witnessed in my previous life as a reporter in small communities in Kansas. Those opportunities afforded me access to some of the most horrific and tragic crashes one can imagine. One of the first was in the summer of 1986 while working on my last night of an internship in Pittsburg. Regular st ..read more
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A game of inches
Kansas Department of Transportation
by
3y ago
By Keith Lindemann Can you remember the last time you had the experience of standing on the highway while passing vehicles fly by? Chances are, you were pretty nervous while you were changing that flat tire or adding that gallon or two of gas. The sound of tires on the pavement just inches away and the rush of air created by the passing vehicles are warning signs of how dangerous it is out there. These warning signs should motivate you to finish the job before the unthinkable happens. The unthinkable is - being struck and killed by a passing motorist. I experience these feelings most every ..read more
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