Safe driving in work zones stressed

Drivers are being urged to be cautious when passing through road construction zones following the recent death of a flagger and the start of work on the largest projects the city will take on this paving season.

Flanked by the temporary signs typically seen at a work zone, both Mayor Lyn Hall and Prince George RCMP Sgt. Matt LaBelle were on hand Tuesday for a media event alongside 15th Avenue to raise awareness about safe driving through those stretches.

"We just want to make sure that drivers really obey these signs, to make sure that they drive with caution because we have workers and flag people and pedestrians out," Hall said. "We just want you to be conscious of that."

The investigation into the Aug. 16 death of Linda Magnussen remains ongoing. She was conducting traffic control at at city project near the corner of Austin Road West and Highway 97 North when she was struck by a vehicle.

There have also been a number of close calls on other occasions and sites, Hall said.

"What we're doing today is just raising the bar and asking people in the community - and not just drivers, pedestrians too - to obey these signs so that they don't run into any issues and they don't put their lives at risk."

The fine for failing to obey a flag person or for exceeding the speed limit in a construction zone starts at $196, LaBelle said, and added the quality of the road is not as good while going through the repaving process, making them less safe than they are otherwise.

"The construction zones, while they're being constructed, the engineering has changed," LaBelle said.

Repaving along 3.5 kilometres of 15th, from Johnson to Alward Streets, has begun. Work will also occur along six kilometres of Fifth, from Ahbau to Ruggles and from Carney to Edmonton.

The extension of the downtown renewable energy system to the courthouse and Plaza 400 is nearing completion, as is improvement of water service in the Birchwood-Austin area and both the replacement of the watermain and extension of the waste water collection system in Sussex-Killarney-Wildwood area in the Hart Highlands.

Road rehabilitation accounts for $7 million this year. Once work on sidewalks and utilities are added on, the total rises to $50 million according to city figures.