Date:
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Contact:
Meghan Soptich, WSDOT Communications, (206) 440-4455
Carl Barker, WSDOT Assistant Project Engineer, (425) 489-5403
MONROE – Tonight a new kind of worker joins the ranks of WSDOT construction crews: the roboflagger. The roboflagger is WSDOT’s latest tool to make work zones safer for both driver and crews.
Remotely controlled by a human flagger behind traffic safety barriers, the automated flagging device features red and yellow lights and a gate arm that lifts and lowers. The roboflagger keeps human flaggers safe by removing them from the direct line of traffic.
WSDOT maintenance crews have used the roboflagger on projects in the Tacoma area, but this is the first time the roboflagger will be tested on a construction project. Tonight through late March crews will be installing 1.2 miles of guardrail on US 2 just west of Monroe. They will close one lane of US 2 from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. each night while a pair of roboflaggers help alternate traffic through the work zone.
“This is a great project for us to test out the roboflagger,” says Carl Barker, assistant project engineer. “We’re working at night, when visibility is low, and we’re alternating traffic on a two-lane highway. We’ll be able to see how the roboflagger works in these conditions, and how drivers and our crews respond to it.”
Dangerous work zones are a real concern for WSDOT. Between 1999 and 2005, there were 47 work zone deaths in Washington State and 4,444 work zone injuries. Speeding and inattentive driving are the two major reasons for work zone collisions, and flaggers are the most at-risk workers.
Visit the WSDOT Web site for more information on the US 2 project and the roboflagger: www.wsdot.wa.gov/Northwest/Snohomish/WeeklyProject. Find out more about work zone safety: www.wsdot.wa.gov/brake.
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