I got run off the road on my way home to Atlanta, this weekend. The road was going down to one lane and a semi-truck sped in front of me and merged too early, forcing me to run off the road and into the orange traffic cones. Besides being furious that the semi-truck sped in front of me only to go 50 mph in a 60 mph zone after running me into the traffic cones, I was worried for my safety. I was angry at the truck driver, but even angrier at the seemingly pointless construction on I-16. If the road never went down to one lane, the semi-truck wouldn’t have sped up and cut me off when he realized his lane soon ended.
In the 116 miles from Statesboro to Macon, the road went down to one-lane, four separate times. For one of the closings, a shoulder was being repaved and for another, some sections of road were being replaced. But that is only two of the spots that the road went down to one lane. For the other two, there was nothing wrong with the road; there were just cones there for what seemed to be no reason.
I was blessed that my accident left me without a scratch, but there have been many others before me whose accidents ended differently than mine. Our fellow citizens are dying, and no one is doing anything about it; I-16 and road work are killing people. Last month a member of our staff, Alex Nelson, wrote an article called, I-16: South Georgia's Most Dangerous Road? Nelson tells us that since 2015 began, there have already been 19 deaths on I-16. This really hit home when we lost five of our fellow Eagles not too long ago, due to road work and a semi-truck. My question is: where are the media reports or speeches from government officials telling us, “We understand the danger, but this road work is necessary and will be completed by...”? Why isn’t anyone reassuring us that the road work is both necessary and on a tight deadline?
Road work has been happening on I-16 for at least five years -- maybe longer -- and nothing seems to be getting accomplished. Outside of the fact that it is annoying because it slows down the trip, the road work is extremely dangerous. Recently on I-75, road construction lead to 18 people being involved in a nine-vehicle crash which left six people dead. Police stated that the cars were stopped on the road due to construction when a semi-truck was unable to stop and plowed into the vehicles from behind.
I acknowledge that road work may be necessary, and that road work isn’t the only thing to blame for these deaths, but it is a major factor. I urge our government officials or the Department of Transportation to make a statement addressing this roadwork and our concerns. I urge them to make open and transparent plans so we aren’t left in the dark while people around us are getting hurt and killed. I urge them to start acting proactively to make I-16 safer while construction is going on. That could come in the form of signs placed earlier, ahead of the construction and warning of roadwork in a certain number of miles. Currently the only warnings are placed two miles ahead of the construction -- at best. On I-16, there is an non-specific and confusing sign saying “Construction for the Next 32 Miles” yet there is no construction for the majority of those miles, so that is just about as helpful as a sign that says “Construction for the Next 116 Miles.” That’s like the weather man warning us of a tornado sometime in the next year, and telling us to be prepared at all times.
Something needs to happen to make I-16 safer. I hope this reaches the DOT and government officials in charge, and steps are taken to keep our citizens alive and unharmed.
