August 28, 2023

By Lane Kimble

“In Gottes Namen.”

It’s a phrase Jim Griesbach picked up from his grandfather – an old German farmer – who uttered those words every time he entered a field.

“Every day, when I walk through my highway department’s doors, I say, ‘In Gottes Namen.’  Protect my workers that day,’” Griesbach explained.

That wasn’t the only personal truth the Marathon County Highway Commissioner shared during WisDOT North Central Region’s Work Zone Awareness event Tuesday.

Griesbach also shared his greatest fear.

“I can deal with bad budgets, I can deal with winter storms, I can deal with floods, I can deal with tornadoes, bad politics and trying to get staff… But the thing I never want to have to deal with is to have to go make that knock some night on somebody’s door to tell them their loved one isn’t coming home,” Griesbach said.

Thankfully, Griesbach hasn’t had to deliver those words, but he and other speakers know the risk is there for crews across Wisconsin every single day.  More than 60 people have died in the 11,678 work zone crashes in Wisconsin in the past five years.

It’s why WisDOT, WTBA, and our partners agreed this year to use Work Zone Awareness Week – held every year in April – as a springboard rather than a standalone event, opting to bring safety messages to each of the state’s five regions all throughout the construction season.

“Unfortunately, the training, the PPE, the specialized equipment are not enough to protect our coworkers’ lives,” Mathy’s Safety Director Rockie Reuter said during the Northwest Region’s work zone event held this Thursday.

“Despite an extremely competent workforce and an ever growing list of safety measures… we are seeing an alarming trend of hostile and distracted drivers who fail to yield to instructions.”

Not quite through the first eight months of 2023, State Patrol troopers have issued about 18,000 speeding tickets and warnings in the Northwest Region.  More than 200 of those happened in work zones, Captain Craig Larson noted.

“Every life is valuable.  My coworkers are moms, dads, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters,” Reuter said.

“We are committed to doing everything we can to enhance the safety of work zones for our team and the traveling public, but this is truly an all-hands-on-deck effort.”

Speakers at both events reiterated simple, but potentially life-saving pleas to drivers: slow down, follow the rules, and pay attention – for everyone’s sake.

“The highways of Wisconsin belong to its citizens.  That’s what we believe… James Peterson Sons takes great pride in constructing portions of these highways,” JPS Project Manager Brian Wipf said on Tuesday.  “Because of this unique interaction, we believe that a social contract, of sorts, needs to exist.  The traveling public has their part to play in honoring this contract to keep construction zones safe for everyone.”