Dozens of highway contractors gathered in Bessemer Wednesday to drive home national Work Zone Awareness week’s live-saving message.
They assembled on the site of the Lakeshore Parkway and Morgan Road alignment construction at SR-150.
It was part of the national ‘Go Orange Day’ reminding drivers to slow down and pay attention in work zones.
“Whether that’s the workers who are putting their lives on the line to make things happen, or the driver who’s driving through. We all want to go home,” ALDOT’s East Central Region Engineer DeJarvis Leonard said.
The Alabama Road Builders Association represents the contractors risking their lives every day to improve the state’s highways.
While Executive Director Skip Powe highlighted how Alabama saw a decade-low number of work zone fatalities in 2025, there is much room for improvement.
“What is alarming is that we saw a 43 percent increase in crashes and injuries in the last two years. That is discouraging to say the least,” Powe said.
Bessemer Alignment Project
The Bessemer alignment project will improve traffic flow in an area with a growing number of industrial campuses and a daily traffic count of 20,000 vehicles.
“We are taking two intersections, two red light intersections and combing into one. That is going to be a big improvement for traffic. It is going to take away a lot of left-hand turns and right-hand turns away and conflict points out of our traffic,” Jefferson County Engineer Chris Nicholson said.
He also pointed out there are long-range plans to widen Morgan Road from the current project south to Exit 6 at I-459.
Saving Lives
Nicholson echoed the theme of the weeklong work zone awareness campaign: safe actions save lives.
“When you are driving through a job site, any job site, this job site, the next job site, stay off your phones, watch out for our workers so can all get home safe,” he said.
Sgt. Reginal King stressed that while ALEA works to discourage irresponsible work zone actions, each driver must make the right choice.
“We are encouraging everyone, including the motorists, to do their part to slow down when you see the orange cones, barrels and signs. When you see those items, think about preserving life,” Sgt. King said.
“It only takes one moment in time to change lives,” Leonard said.
