Transportation officials say reckless driving and speeding in Interstate work zones around Charleston have raised concerns and may soon result in increased speed limit enforcement. A Department of Transportation spokesman said traffic violations are worst in a work zone along Interstate 64 near the Fort Hill Bridge where a contra flow lane is being used to divert traffic while structural repairs are made to the bridge deck. The speed limit in work zones is 50 mph.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Reckless driving and excessive speeding through Interstate work zones in West Virginia’s capital have become such a problem in recent months that State Police may soon be asked to help enforce posted speed limits, a Department of Transportation spokesman said Wednesday.
While there is no timetable yet for when that may occur, department spokesman Brent Walker said that “enforcement will happen soon.”
“We’ve got to slow people down,” he said. “Work zones are dangerous enough, so we don’t need people adding to that by doing something that is preventable.”
Walker said speeding is worst in a work zone along Interstate 64 near the Eugene A. Carter Memorial Bridge, also known as the Fort Hill Bridge.
In that area, the state Division of Highways is using a contra flow lane to divert one eastbound lane of traffic into a westbound lane while work crews make structural repairs to the bridge deck. The Fort Hill Bridge is the most heavily-trafficked in West Virginia, carrying more than 100,000 cars and trucks every day, according to a 2010 Division of Highways estimate.
“Speeding is everywhere,” Walker said. “But there’s so much distracted driving and excessive speeding in that work zone — it really has us concerned.”
Department of Transportation officials have ordered monitoring by camera of the contra flow lane…