National Work Zone Awareness Week 2019: History

What is now a nationwide campaign began at VDOT back in 1997.

The first known Work Zone Awareness Week occurred April 7-11, 1997, in VDOT's Bristol District. The District's employee involvement team thought it would be a good idea to spend a week focusing on work zone safety to raise employees' awareness before they went to work on the roads for the year.

They scheduled an awareness week to coincide with the start of daylight saving time, the informal start of construction and travel season. It was a great idea with perfect timing...and great results!

So the district shared the idea with David Rush, VDOT's work zone safety program manager, and also with VDOT's Public Affairs office.

This March/April 2010 Public Roads article tells the full story...