Janet Groncki spent years working on Maryland’s highways. During that time, she had plenty of close encounters.
“I can remember the first time I worked on 270. I jumped up into the arms of the girl I was working with, because the tractor trailer was this close to me,” she gestures with her hands to show how a truck came within a foot of her. “I mean, you’re in a work zone, and he was flying.”
Groncki’s story isn’t unique. She’s no longer on the road but works as CEO of Sunrise Safety Solutions, Inc. a company that specializes in construction safety equipment.
“We’ve had people hit,” she said. “But thankfully no one died.”
State leaders and industry experts worry about more fatal crashes, like the one that killed six road workers on March 22 on I-695, as traffic reaches levels close to those seen in 2019. There are also more construction projects on the roads thanks to the federal infrastructure bill.
The Associated General Contractors of America and software company HCSS released a national and state survey last month. In the national survey, more than half of the 732 respondents reported that in the last year there was at least one crash in a highway work zone that they managed. A quarter of those respondents reported five or more crashes.
In the Maryland survey, 42% of the 24 respondents said there had been at least five vehicle crashes in work zones they manage.
The U.S. Department of Transportation reported a 10.7% increase in work zone fatalities from 2020 through 2021, the last year with complete data.
Read more (and listen) at WYPR.
