C-DOT Says Keeping Construction Zones Safe Is A Daily Challenge

PUEBLO – CDOT says it’s constantly at work to protect employees and drivers. This after a judge says the state is to blame in the crash that killed CDOT worker Charles Mather.

Accident reconstruction specialists testified that the driver of the 18-wheeler involved in the crash would’ve had just over a foot of clearance on each side over the bridge where a CDOT crew was working. The speed limit was set at 75 miles an hour. Jurors determined the zone was a crash waiting to happen.

“CDOT was not on trial, but then it looks like we were guilty of something,” says CDOT Region 2 Director Tim Harris of the trial. A judge deemed CDOT, not the driver of the semi, negligent in Mather’s 2006 death.

He was killed when a semi-driver hit the piece of heavy equipment Mather was operating on I-25 south of Colorado City. “Our fear is this verdict sends a message to drivers that they have no part in this equation,” Harris says.

For its part, CDOT immediately examined safety procedures. “We’ve had to consciously tell our workers that safety is more important than production,” Harris says. CDOT is now more likely to lower the speed limit through work zones and use troopers to monitor speed. It’s also added new equipment.

“There are additional lights at the top and the bottom to increase visibility,” says Harris of the new one-ton construction trucks. Harris says drivers also have to take responsibility. “Slowing down, paying attention, get off the cell phone,” says Harris, “quit eating your lunch, whatever it takes.”

CDOT says each work or construction zone is different and it will assess each one in an effort to prevent any other tragic situations.