Road construction workers face busy and sometimes dangerous workplace

The road construction season in Iowa is at its mid-point. Dozens of road projects are underway throughout the state, and the largest is on the Des Moines Freeway as I-235 is updated and expanded. Dan Kramer is building a bridge over the freeway. Kramer says 100-thousand cars go by his work-site every day. Kramer says there have been traffic accidents in his work area, but luckily no construction worker has been involved. The D-O-T says of those who’re injured in work-zone accidents, 9 out of 10 are the folks driving vehicles through the zone — not the workers. Kramer understands why.Kramer says 90 percent of the people who drive by have their eyes ahead and aren’t paying a bit of attention to the hazard. Kramer says the a few “rubber-neckers” who turn their eyes toward the construction zone are probably contractors who want to see what the workers are doing. Kramer’s colleague, Mark Leusink, is driving piling for a footing of that bridge. Leusink says workers in the road construction areas need to be wary. Leusink says workers get used to the traffic, but he says if you work around it too long you get too used to it and forget it’s there, He says that’s a “scary thing too.” The project to replace all the bridges on the interstate through Des Moines is the largest such project in the state’s history.