WORK ZONE SAFETY WEEK

4/23/25

With construction ramping up across the state, the Illinois Department of Transportation, Illinois State Police, Illinois Tollway, industry partners, local agencies and frontline construction workers are teaming up for National Work Zone Awareness Week to remind the public to “Respect the zone so we all get home.”

The theme for this year’s National Work Zone Awareness Week is “Respect the zone so we all get home,” reinforcing the message that your undivided attention and caution is necessary at all times when traveling through work zones to protect everyone in them – workers, drivers and their passengers, bicyclists, and pedestrians.  When you are behind the wheel and approach a work zone, eliminate all distractions, decrease your speed and proceed with care and consideration for others.

To call attention to the heightened risks of work zones, Governor JB Pritzker proclaimed this week as “Work Zone Safety Awareness Week” in Illinois.  This week, IDOT is once again holding “tailgate talks” at the start of the day to give workers refreshers on work zone protocol.

At all times during construction season, the public should be ready for lane closures, changes in traffic patterns, reduced speed limits and the presence of workers and equipment.  This year, IDOT is strengthening its effort to make work zones safer, including expanding the use of speed safety vans and deploying more temporary rumble strips approaching projects.  As part of the It’s Not a Game safety campaign, high-traffic work zones will be geotargeted so drivers can hear streaming audio ads, reinforcing safety messages.

Each year, an average of nearly 6,300 crashes occurs in Illinois work zones, resulting in more than 1,600 injuries.  Preliminary statistics for 2024 show that 13 people died in work zones in Illinois, including four workers, a reminder that crashes in work zones generally have a much greater impact on drivers and their passengers.