Partner with VDOT for Safety in Work Zones

RICHMOND, Va. – Hundreds of highway work zones are active every spring across the commonwealth, and they can be dangerous places for motorists and crew members. The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) will take part in National Work Zone Awareness Week, April 3-7, to remind drivers that caution and vigilance are essential for safety on both sides of the orange cones.

This year’s national theme is “Drive Toward Zero Crashes. Work Zone Safety is in Your Hands.”

“When you approach a highway work zone, you’re seeing Virginia’s investment in our future,” said Transportation Secretary Aubrey L. Layne Jr., “Construction and maintenance of our roads and bridges benefits all of us. Driving without distractions helps ensure that you reach your destination safely, and that VDOT’s crews and contractors make it home to their loved ones.”

In Virginia’s work zones last year, there were 2,427 work zone crashes resulting in 1,170 injuries and 10 fatalities.

VDOT and the Virginia Transportation Research Council are working together to enhance the visibility of work zones and capture the attention of every driver. The agencies are currently evaluating temporary portable rumble strips and flagger paddles equipped with flashing LED lights in each of VDOT’s nine construction districts. These devices are designed to reduce distracted driving and improve safety for motorists and workers.

“With warmer months ahead, construction season will be in full swing, and you’ll notice a lot activity,” VDOT Commissioner Charles Kilpatrick said. “Just remember that a little frustration now will soon turn into improved travel in the future. So stay alert – protect yourselves and our workers who are trying to improve your travel.”

Support Work Zone Awareness Week

• Tuesday, April 4: The public is invited to a 6:30 p.m. vigil at the VDOT Workers’ Memorial (Interstate 64 eastbound on Afton Mountain in Albemarle County, milepost 103). This annual event honors employees who lost their lives while on the job.
• Wednesday, April 5: Go Orange Day. Wear orange to help start a conversation about work zone safety. Gov. Terry McAuliffe and First Lady Dorothy McAuliffe are showing their support by lighting the executive mansion in orange. 
• Follow VDOT on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Use the hashtags: #NWZAW, #GoOrangeVA and #InYourHands.
• VDOT offers the following tips for safely navigating highway work zones:
• Expect the unexpected. Keep an eye out for workers and slow-moving equipment.
• Follow the signs. Signs and flaggers will direct you through the work zone. Expect changes in traffic patterns as the project progresses.
• Don’t tailgate. Unexpected stops frequently occur in work zones.
• Don’t speed. Enhanced fines of up to $500 may be levied for speeding in a work zone.
• Never change lanes in the work zone.
• Focus and minimize distractions. Focus your full attention on the road and those traveling around you. Avoid changing radio stations, eating or using phones.
• Be patient. Crews are working to improve the safety and comfort of your travels.
• Know before you go. Call 511 or download the free app for up-to-the-minute traffic and weather information. Before you travel, log on to 511Virginia.org for road and traffic conditions, weather forecasts and live traffic cameras on many major highways.

Thrasher Will Lead the Richmond District

RICHMOND, Va. – Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) Commissioner Charles Kilpatrick, P.E., announced that Bart A. Thrasher, P.E., will be the agency’s new Richmond District Engineer.

“I’m pleased to announce that Bart A. Thrasher, P.E., will be leading VDOT’s Richmond District,” said Kilpatrick. “He brings extensive skills in pioneering solutions to address transportation challenges across the Commonwealth.”

Thrasher will be responsible for the construction, maintenance and operations of approximately 18,700 lane miles of roads in the Richmond District’s 14 counties: Amelia, Brunswick, Charles City, Chesterfield, Dinwiddie, Goochland, Hanover, Henrico (except secondary system), Lunenburg, Mecklenburg, New Kent, Nottoway, Powhatan and Prince George. 

Thrasher brings over 22 years of experience from both the private and public sectors. He began his career with VDOT in 1997 as a transportation engineer trainee and since that time has served in several leadership roles in various capacities. Thrasher moved to Richmond District’s Sandston Residency in 1998 as a construction inspector.  In 2000, he became a transportation engineer in the Location and Design Division working on the Springfield Interchange project while in both the Northern Virginia District and Central Office.  In 2004, Thrasher was selected as Location and Design Division’s State Geometric Engineer and became the Assistant State Location and Design Engineer in 2008. 

Most recently, he served as the state location and design engineer. As state location and design engineer, Thrasher was responsible for the planning, implementation and oversight of VDOT’s statewide project management and preconstruction activities. His design and construction knowledge ranges from land development and secondary road systems to complex arterial and interstate interchanges. 
 
Thrasher holds a bachelor of science and masters of business administration degrees from Old Dominion University as well as a bachelor of arts degree from Emory and Henry College. He is a graduate of the Virginia Executive Institute and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials’ (AASHTO) National Transportation Management Institute.

Thrasher is a member of the American Association of State Highway Officials (AASHTO) Subcommittee on Design as well as AASHTO’s Technical Committee on Geometric Design.  He has been co-author of various chapters of the past two editions of AASHTO’s Green Book and is also a member of the Transportation Research Board’s Subcommittee on Geometric Design. 

New Free Tool Helps Cities Analyze Their Streets

A new tool, now in development, will let cities measure the quality of their all-ages bike networks for every neighborhood or Census block.

Most policy wonks agree: the next big step for using biking to improve U.S. cities is the low-stress bike network. Many cities and towns have a jumble of off-street paths, protected bike lanes and bike-friendly side streets that, if joined with the right destinations, could rapidly change American travel habits.

But actually building those networks isn't a matter of policy. It's a matter of politics.

This is where PeopleForBikes' forthcoming network analysis tool comes in. Its goal is to join policy with politics, making it relatively cheap and easy for cities to locate the weakest areas in their biking network — and, eventually, the easiest ways to make the network better.

Read the rest of the story here.

Redesigning Main Street To Make It Safer For Everyone

This week, we're sharing stories from Strong Towns members who will be speaking at our transportation summit in Tulsa, OK beginning on Thursday, March 30. Paul Fritz, along with his friends and colleagues Dave Alden and Mitch Connor, are leading a workshop entitled "Building Citizen Organizations to Reintegrate Commuter Rail into Communities." Their workshop will share insights about how to organize your community to promote beneficial, financially sound rail initiatives as an alternative to car-centric cities. Today's article by Paul Fritz is a repost from his blog, Small Town Urbanism. It takes a deep dive into a local street in his town of Sebastopol, CA and considers how it could be better designed to prioritize pedestrian safety—not just car traffic— as well as economic productivity.

And if you're interested in reading more from Paul, take a look at his hilarious and brilliant blog post about "Slow Down Cat," Sebastopol's own, larger than life, traffic calming kitty.

Read the rest of the story here.

Pedestrian deaths soar in the uneven battles with cars

For Peggy Dickie, the end came when she tried to cross a street during rush hour in Northwest Washington. For Betty Lou Vest, it was just before 8 p.m. near an intersection in Clarksburg, Md. For Irma Taracena, it was on a poorly lit road around 9:40 in Falls Church, Va.

All three pedestrians were among the scores killed in the Washington region and the 28,642 killed nationally between 2010 and 2015 after being struck by cars.

Pedestrian deaths soared by 25 percent during the period, far outpacing the 6 percent overall increase in traffic fatalities.

Read the rest of the story here.

This App Lets Your Company Pay You To Bike To Work

If you work at Acato, a digital agency in the Netherlands, your boss will now pay you to ride your bike to work. The company is one of the first to try out a new app designed to track employee commutes and automatically detect when someone is on a bike rather than in a car, and then let the company reward the ones who make the more sustainable choice.

“We want to create healthy employees,” Jose Diaz, cofounder and CEO of ByCycling, the startup that created the app, tells Fast Company. “We know that companies are willing to spend some money to create a healthy lifestyle for their workforce–that way, they can save a lot of money through less sick leave and more productivity.”

Read the rest of the story here.

Transportation Board Awards 12 Contracts Worth $76.8 Million

RICHMOND, Va. – The Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB) approved twelve contracts at their monthly meeting yesterday totaling $76.8 million for maintenance and construction projects in the Virginia Department of Transportation’s (VDOT) Richmond, Northern Virginia, Bristol, and Culpeper Districts.

Route 711 will be widened to relieve congestion in Powhatan and Chesterfield counties

A contract totaling $11.7 million was awarded to E.J. Wade Construction, LLC of Mechanicsville to widen and improve Route 711 at the Route 288 interchange in VDOT’s Richmond District.

Improvements will include taking Route 711 from two to four lanes for a 1.14-mile stretch at the Route 288 interchange on the Powhatan/Chesterfield county line, and replacing the bridge over Bernard’s Creek. Bike lanes and sidewalks will also be added.

The project is expected to be complete by June 2019.

Structurally deficient bridges on Interstate 395 will be repaired

A $5.5 million contract was awarded to Martins Construction Corp. of Falls Church to repair structurally deficient* bridges spanning Four Mile Run on I-395 in VDOT’s Northern Virginia District.

The project will include reconstructing deck joints, replacement of bearings, repainting the steel superstructure, and repair of concrete and foundation of the bridges, which were constructed in 1970.

The project is expected to be complete in November 2018.                               

* A bridge that has been deemed structurally deficient does not imply that it’s likely to collapse or is unsafe. But there are elements of the bridge that need to be monitored and/or repaired.

Pavement restoration will be completed on Interstate 85 in the Richmond District

Two contracts have been awarded for work on I-85 in Brunswick, Mecklenburg and Dinwiddie counties.

A contract in the amount of $7.9 million was awarded to Allen Myers VA, Inc. to restore pavement for a 24 mile stretch from the North Carolina state line to the Meherrin River Bridge.

A $7.3 million contract for pavement restoration was awarded to Adams Construction Company of Roanoke. The work will be done from about a mile north of Route 40 to just south of Route 1.

For both projects, restoration will include pavement repair, installing new drains and guardrail replacement.

Pavement maintenance is planned in the Northern Virginia, Bristol and Culpeper districts

In the Northern Virginia District, two contracts totaling $14.1 million were awarded to Superior Paving Corporation of Gainesville, for paving in Fairfax County.

A $5.2 million contract was awarded to Virginia Paving Co., a division of The Lane Construction Corp., of Cheshire, Conn. for paving in Fairfax County.

A $6.2 million contract was awarded to Arthur Construction Co. Inc., of Dulles for paving in Fairfax County.

A $7.1 million contract was awarded to Virginia Paving Co., a division of The Lane Construction Corp., of Cheshire, Conn. for paving in Arlington County.

A $6.5 million contract was awarded to W-L Construction & Paving, Inc. of Chilhowie for paving in Buchanan County in VDOT’s Bristol District.

A contract in the amount of $5.3 million was awarded to Superior Paving Corporation of Gainesville for paving in Rappahannock County in VDOT’s Culpeper District.

The following chart tracks the dollar amount of major contracts the CTB has awarded in calendar year 2017:

In advance of each CTB meeting, VDOT Commissioner Charles Kilpatrick also approves contracts up to $5 million in value. From the February 22, 2017 bid letting, the commissioner approved 61 contracts worth an approximate total of $111 million for construction and maintenance projects on Virginia’s interstates and primary and secondary roads.

Appointed by the governor, the 17-member CTB establishes the administrative policies for Virginia's transportation system. The CTB allocates highway funding to specific projects, locates routes and provides funding for airports, seaports and public transportation. The board normally meets on the third Wednesday of the month in months when action meetings are scheduled.

For more information:

• Final bid results and projects: http://www.virginiadot.org/business/const/bidresults-list.asp

• CTB meeting, times and locations: http://www.ctb.virginia.gov