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Pay attention in road work zones

Motorists who stop for a break at the West Virginia welcome center along Interstate 77 in Wood County may notice an unusual memorial. It features a life-size bronze statue of a man. In one hand, he carries a traffic control cone. In the other, he has a stop sign..

Below him are the names of 49 highway workers who were killed while doing their jobs in the Mountain State.

Division of Highways workers are behind the memorial. They wanted to honor co-workers killed on the job — and remind motorists to be careful in work zones.

Here in our area, the orange cones and “Flagger Ahead” signs are familiar. Throughout the Northern Panhandle, they will become even more common when major highway and bridge construction project begins.

We shouldn’t have to tell you this: Pay attention while you’re driving. Don’t let yourself be surprised by a work zone. Slow down. Put down the cellphone.

Tracey Bland, speaking at dedication of the memorial last week, put it this way: “…remember that the workers do have families.”

Her husband, Randall, was working on a Wood County highway in June 2015 when an unattentive truck driver triggered an accident that took his life.

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