Nobody likes to be delayed up by road construction, but if drivers slow down and use caution, everybody gets out alive.
MnDOT put out a reminder to motorists to pay attention and follow the speed limits in work zones after a motorist was killed in a construction zone Monday and another was seriously injured.
A Maple Grove woman died when she drove around traffic on the shoulder of eastbound 694 at Shingle Creek Pkwy. and collided with a stopped semitrailer truck when she veered back into the traffic lanes.
A highway worker was seriously injured on Hwy. 212 in Plato, Minn. in a crash that occurred in a work zone.
Over the past five years, the Minnesota Department of Public Safety reports that there have been 26,502 crashes in work zones. Those have led to 41 deaths and more than 4,000 injuries.
"Speed and driver inattention are the main causes of work zone crashes," said MnDOT Commissioner Charlie Zelle. "We all need to be patient and drive accordingly."
Fines for disobeying speed limits in work zones are double, officials remind motorists.
Along with traffic, work zones are dangerous because lane shifts and closures are fluid, and workers and equipment are often moving about.
