Alberta Roadbuilders and Heavy Construction Association have partnered with the Minister of Environment and Parks, Jason Nixon to advocate for safe driving in construction zones. Together, they are trying to distribute the message ‘Don’t RIP through construction zones.’

“At the end of the day, the people working there are somebody's mom or somebody's dad and we want to make sure that they go home safe. We want to help get the message out that we're going to get our roads fixed, but we want to keep everybody who's building them safe while they're out there,” explained Nixon.

Central City Asphalt Ltd. joined in to spread the message after being awarded $4.5 million for a paving project on Highway 12 between Bentley and Eckville earlier this year.

Chief Executive Officer of Alberta Roadbuilders and Heavy construction Association, Ron Glen has been pleased to see the Government invest in Alberta’s roads and create jobs for Albertans.

“We wanted to highlight this project because this was a project was government recognized. They needed to do some stimulus and there's so much backlog of what needs to be done on the highways that there's no end of work.  There's lots of capacity in our industry to get the people back to work,” said Glen.

Before the government’s aid, it was a harrowing site for Albertan construction workers. However, through projects such as the one on Highway 12, the industry has managed to keep a few more workers afloat.

 “We had estimated somewhere around 14 to 16,000 jobs were going to be lost this year, but we'll see at the end of the year we tally things up,” said Glen who expects many of the lost jobs to have been made up through government stimulus projects.

 As for incidents in construction sites, Glen says this year has been a relatively positive one.  Thus far, there have been no fatalities at construction sites or major injuries brought to his attention. In previous years, fatalities and injuries have been a problem.

However, exercising patience in construction zones remains a great way to save lives and create a safe work environment for construction workers.

“In the past, we have had many incidents and we have had fatalities. Sometimes, it's our workers, and sometimes, it's people driving into hazards that are on the road because they’re just distracted for whatever reason. Construction zones are dangerous. We want to keep the traffic moving but we got to do it in a safe way and it means slowing down even though it's always frustrating,” said Glen.

Snow ploughs to hit the road soon

File photo. As construction season wraps up, Glen noted that many workers end up on the snow ploughs during the winter months to keep the roads clear and in good condition. Ploughing snow offers new sorts of dangers for drivers on the road.

“We've had, unfortunately, quite a few incidents with snow plows and there have been fatalities in recent years because people don't give us room. Particularly, they will pass sometimes even on the right and that's when some trucks will have a wing… and it's hazardous and billows out snow. We just have to give them room,” said Glen.

He says snow plough drivers will always turn off the road in intervals of six kilometers. If drivers wait until then, they will be able to safely get past the snow ploughs.

Overall, whether it’s a construction site or if you’re stuck behind a snow plough, it’s best to practice patience for those trying to keep our roads in the best of conditions.