National Work Zone Awareness Week Executive Committee Announces Dates for Future Events
The National Work Zone Awareness Week Executive Committee has announced future dates for National Work Zone Awareness Week events under a newly developed five-year plan. The dates from 2010 - 2014 are:
2010: April 19 - 23
2011: April 4 - 8
2012: April 23 - 27
2013: April 15 - 19
2014: March 31 - April 4
2009 National Work Zone Awareness Week April 6 - 10
Drive to Survive - Our Future is Riding On It!
ATSSA and FHWA Partnership Delivers Highly-Successful National Media Event
ATSSA Chairman Henry Ross, ATSSA President and CEO Roger Wentz and FHWA's Associate Administrator for Safety Joseph Toole meet prior to the 10th Annual National Work Zone Awareness Week media event at Columbia Island Marina, South Arlington, Va. on April 7.
ATSSA and the FHWA coordinated an emotional 10th Annual National Work Zone Awareness Week national kick-off event near Washington, D.C. on April 7. The event drew a significant number of guests from the roadway safety industry, as well as a large pool of media. The event featured Va.-DOT Chief of Systems Operations Connie Sorrell and FHWA’s Associate Administer for Safety Joseph S. Toole. Surviving members of the Moser family were the featured guest speakers who told their emotional story of father and husband Rick Moser, a Maryland State Highway Administration worker who lost his life in a tragic work zone accident. The media event, which highlighted the progress in work zone safety made over the last decade, was held only yards away from the Humpback Bridge Replacement Project on the George Washington Parkway – one of the East Coast’s most congested commuter corridors.
National Work Zone Awareness Week Coverage Across the Nation
Newspapers, agencies and municipalities all over the country are joining together to increase public awareness of National Work Zone Awareness Week, highlighting the importance of work zone safety. Click on the links below to see specific publications, displays and proclamations nationwide.
Video Coverage:
MyFoxDC (Fox News - Washington, D.C.)
Lawrence Journal World (Lawrence, Kan.)
Print / On-Line Publications:
On-line information from the Illinois Department of Transportation about 2009 Work Zone Awareneness Week Activities.
WTRF-TV, Charleston, W. Va. - on-line article announcing the beginning of the 2009 Work Zone Safety and Awareness season in West Virginia.
Press Release: U.S. Transportation Secretary Announces 17 Percent Drop in Work Zone Fatalities and Injuries; Cautions Motorists to Drive Safely During Busiest Road Work Season in Years
The Fast Lane - Official Blog of the U.S. Secretary of Transportation
ABC News (Baltimore, Md.)
U.S. Department of Transportation Office of Public Affairs
Taylor Daily Press (Taylor, Texas)
The Virginia Department of Transportation
National Work Zone Awarenesss Week in Tennessee:
Federal Highway Administration
Utah Department of Transportation Work Zone Display Board
Pennsylvania Department of Transportation
Lake Havasu City, Ariz. Press Release
ATSSA's 2009 NATIONAL WORK ZONE AWARENESS WEEK RESOURCES
To read Congressman Oberstar's April 1, 2009 statement presented on the floor of the House of Representatives highlighting the 10th Anniversary of National Work Zone Awareness Week click here.
To Order "Flagger Up" Work Zone song - click here. Limit one FREE CD per person' additional copies may be ordered for $3.95 each (covers material & handling).
ATSSA has extra NWZAW T-Shirts! Click here for an order form and call 1-877-642-4637 for available sizes.
To view the 2009 National Work Zone Awareness Week poster, click here.
To download a PDF of the PowerPoint presentation, "The History of National Work Zone Awareness Week," click here.
To download the program for the 2009 National Work Zone Awareness Week National Event (April 7, 2009 - Columbia Island Marina, South Arlington, Va.), click here.A Brief Summary of National Work Zone Awareness Week
National Work Zone Awareness Week (NWZAW) was created on Dec. 15, 1999 when senior representatives from the FHWA, ATSSA and AASHTO jointly signed a Memorandum of Agreement that pledged to increase public awareness of work zone safety issues through a national media campaign. Since then, these three founding organizations have led a national media event every April in every year since, with the assistance and support several key organizations in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. Together, this group is the “NWZAW Executive Committee.”
The NWZAW Executive Committee consists of the FHWA, ATSSA, AASHTO, ARTBA, AGC, Va.-DOT, Md.-DOT and D.C.-DOT. Additionally, since the creation of the event in 1999, nearly every state DOT and countless other associations and organizations support and participate in the program every April.
The April media event rotated for the first eight years between Maryland, the District of Columbia and Virginia. Following the eighth year, the Executive Committee determined to make the national event a true national event by kicking off the week in a pre-selected state. California stepped to the plate – and the 2008 national media event was held on the Capitol Steps in Sacramento. The 2009 event returned to the metropolitan Washington, D.C. area to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the campaign.
The event has drawn national media coverage every year and has featured speakers and participants including U.S.-DOT Secretary Mary Peters, Rep. James Oberstar (D-Minn.), Rep. Bill Shuster (R-Pa.), former Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, and many others. A year-by-year history compilation of the event is located below.
The Executive Committee traditionally has a November planning meeting in Washington, D.C. to begin planning for the April event. During this meeting, possible “themes” for the campaign and the venue for the event are discussed.
Previous NWZAW Events
Organizations designing work zone promotional pieces throughout the year will be interested in knowing the PMS values for the other colors used in the MUTCD are as follows: Brown - PMS 469, Red - PMS 1805C, Yellow - PMS 122C, Green - PMS 342, Blue - PMS 294, Coral - PMS 232.
For more information on National Work Zone Awareness Week, please contact James Baron, Director of Communications at (540) 368-1701, ext. 113.
