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Edited by Alfredo Alvarado

DeMarco stresses work zone safety

On a raining April 4 under the Seeley Avenue bridge in leafy Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn, New York City Dept. of Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg and Local 1455 President Mike DeMarco were joined by Council member Ydanis Rodriguez and dozens of workers in neon safety vests to highlight National Work Zone Awareness Week, April 3 through 7.

“This is one of the more important concerns that both labor and management collaborate on and strongly support,” DeMarco said at the press conference. “We work very hard to keep all DOT workers and motorists safe in work zones as we improve and repair streets and roadways.”

DC 37 locals 376, 983, 1157, 1455 and 1506 represent hundreds of DOT workers who maintain and repair roads and highways throughout the five boroughs and at city-run facilities upstate.

As part of the Vision Zero program, DOT participates in the annual Work Zone Awareness campaign sponsored by the federal Dept. of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration to raise driver awareness and decrease the number of injuries and fatalities caused by motor vehicle crashes in roadway work zones.

State lawmakers recently introduced a bill to improve work zone safety that makes it a crime to drive into an active work zone punishable by a fine of up to $500 and imprisonment. It would make vehicular manslaughter in a work zone a class B felony.

“This gray and rainy weather perfectly illustrates the conditions our members work in day in and day out to keep streets safe,” said DeMarco.