Work Zone Awareness Week focuses on construction area safety
Staff Photo by Robin Rudd / Workers resurface the new westbound lanes of Interstate 24 on April 21, 2025. The week of April 21-25 is Work Zone Awareness Week in Tennessee. Drivers are reminded to watch for work zone speed limits and move over or slow down when encountering emergency or utility vehicles on the roadside. Staff Photo by Robin Rudd / Workers resurface the new westbound lanes of Interstate 24 on April 21, 2025. The week of April 21-25 is Work Zone Awareness Week in Tennessee. Drivers are reminded to watch for work zone speed limits and move over or slow down when encountering emergency or utility vehicles on the roadside.
The week of April 21-25 is Work Zone Awareness Week in Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama, when drivers are reminded to watch for work zone speed limits and to move over or slow down when encountering emergency or utility vehicles on the roadside.
The “move over, slow down” law in Tennessee and other states requires drivers to either move over into an adjacent lane — if safe to do so — or slow down when approaching a stopped emergency vehicle, highway maintenance vehicle, solid waste vehicle, utility service vehicle or stationary recovery or towing vehicle with flashing lights.
Transportation departments in the three states — and across the nation — have events planned through the week, which started in Tennessee with an announcement by Transportation Commissioner Butch Eley on Monday.
Staff Photo by Robin Rudd / Workers resurface the new westbound lanes of Interstate 24 on April 21, 2025. The week of April 21-25 is Work Zone Awareness Week in Tennessee. Drivers are reminded to watch for work zone speed limits and move over or slow down when encountering emergency or utility vehicles on the roadside.Staff Photo by Robin Rudd / A worker operates a roller on the westbound lanes of Interstate 24 on April 21, 2025. The week of April 21-25 is Work Zone Awareness Week in Tennessee. Drivers are reminded to watch for work zone speed limits and move over or slow down when encountering emergency or utility vehicles on the roadside.Staff Photo by Robin Rudd / Work continues April 20, 2025, on Interstate 75 near Hamilton Place. The week of April 21-25 is Work Zone Awareness Week in Tennessee. Drivers are reminded to watch for work zone speed limits and move over or slow down when encountering emergency or utility vehicles on the roadside.Staff Photo by Robin Rudd / Work continues April 20, 2025, on Interstate 75 near Hamilton Place. The week of April 21-25 is Work Zone Awareness Week in Tennessee. Drivers are reminded to watch for work zone speed limits and move over or slow down when encountering emergency or utility vehicles on the roadside.Staff Photo by Robin Rudd / Work continues April 20, 2025, on Interstate 75 near Hamilton Place. The week of April 21-25 is Work Zone Awareness Week in Tennessee. Drivers are reminded to watch for work zone speed limits and move over or slow down when encountering emergency or utility vehicles on the roadside.Staff Photo by Robin Rudd / Work continues April 20, 2025, on Interstate 75 near Hamilton Place. The week of April 21-25 is Work Zone Awareness Week in Tennessee. Drivers are reminded to watch for work zone speed limits and move over or slow down when encountering emergency or utility vehicles on the roadside.Staff Photo by Robin Rudd / Work continues April 20, 2025, on Interstate 75 near Hamilton Place. The week of April 21-25 is Work Zone Awareness Week in Tennessee. Drivers are reminded to watch for work zone speed limits and move over or slow down when encountering emergency or utility vehicles on the roadside.Staff Photo by Robin Rudd / Work continues April 20, 2025, on Interstate 75 near Hamilton Place. The week of April 21-25 is Work Zone Awareness Week in Tennessee. Drivers are reminded to watch for work zone speed limits and move over or slow down when encountering emergency or utility vehicles on the roadside.Staff Photo by Robin Rudd / Work continues April 20, 2025, on Interstate 75 near Hamilton Place. The week of April 21-25 is Work Zone Awareness Week in Tennessee. Drivers are reminded to watch for work zone speed limits and move over or slow down when encountering emergency or utility vehicles on the roadside.Staff Photo by Robin Rudd / Work continues on I-75 near Hamilton Place. The week of April 21-25 is Work Zone Awareness Week in Tennessee, when drivers are reminded to watch for work zone speed limits and move over or slow down when encountering emergency or utility vehicles on the roadside.
“Work zone safety is a shared responsibility, whether behind the wheel or working on the side of the road,” Eley said in a news release. “We engineer our roads to be as safe as possible, but no amount of engineering can change driver behavior. Let’s work together to ensure everyone makes it home safely.”
Last year in Tennessee, 16 people died in work zone crashes, transportation officials said. So far this year, there have been 35 incidents in which drivers crashed into state equipment and vehicles.
