June 11, 2024

By Lane Kimble

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. — The night of Oct. 23, 2023 will stick with Jacob Klages for a long time.

The WisDOT project engineer had just arrived for his shift at a bridge replacement job on I-94 in St. Croix County.  He looked up and saw smoke.

“It was [obvious] upon getting to the crash site that it was pretty bad,” Klages recalled.

Traffic had slowed due to a project lane closure, but a semi truck driver didn’t slow enough.  The chain reaction crash smashed through pickups, cars, and an SUV.  Two semi trucks were on fire.

Two people died.

“My drive home that night was a very nervous one,” Klages said.  “I could only think about that crash.  I drove the speed limit and I couldn’t think about anything else… If a motorist loses control of their vehicle in a work zone, what do you think my chances are of surviving being struck by a car, a semi, anything?”

His story was one of many told during WisDOT’s Northwest Region Work Zone Safety news conference Tuesday in Eau Claire.

It’s an ongoing effort between WTBA, contractors, and WisDOT to promote awareness and remind drivers about the risks we all face all season long.

In 2023, nine people died and more than 700 were injured in more than 2,100 crashes in Wisconsin work zones.  In the past five years, 64 people have died in work zone crashes in the state.

“The work zones are a temporary inconvenience.  The consequences of actions while driving through can be forever,” Northwest Region Deputy Director Brent Pickard said.

Just since February, Wisconsin State Patrol troopers warned and cited drivers more than 400 times for speeding in work zones in the 20-county Northwest region.  The WSP has boosted patrol efforts specifically around work zones this summer.

“Our employees are constantly huddling up in the mornings, talking about what’s going on for traffic and staying on the same page,” Hoffman Construction Safety Director Gary Kaas said.  “They see you (law enforcement) every day out there and it’s really improved the safety.”

Event speakers hope their stories stick with you as you hit the road this spring, summer, and fall – especially when you approach the warning signs, orange barrels, and the people working right behind them.

“I have always believed we have the best staff you could ever find and I think Jacob exemplifies that,” Pickard said.  “We want these folks safe, we want them to go home.”