Road construction workers remain vulnerable to work zone accidents as a result of distracted or accelerated drivers, according to a new national survey of associated general contractors (AGC). State transport agencies are exploring ways to increase security awareness through pilot projects such as the use of telematic in connected construction equipment.
Sixty of the contractor respondents reported at least a car accident in the work area over the last year, with almost a third with five or more incidents of this type. At least one construction worker suffered injuries in 30% of the accidents in the reported work area, while 13% represented at least one workers’ fatality. The respondents cited the district driver’s driving, speed and impatience and deterioration between the main causes of the work area.
“These workers have the audience traveling to stop and pay attention,” Jeffrey D. Shoaf, AGC’s CEO, told a press session: “But too often, the audience drops them.”
Bikers are at even greater risk of injuries or death from accidents in the work area. More than 71% of contractors declared an incident in which drivers or passengers were injured, while 24% were at least one motorcyclist’s fatality.
The AGC and other proponents of the industry have long pressed in Congress and state legislators to promote measures that would improve the safety of the road work area, including the increase in on -site police presence and the finest fines that are stricter for the use of the speed and use of mobile phone in these areas. However, the danger persists, as 47% of respondents believe that the risks of shock in work areas have increased last year, a virtually unaltered figure in the study of 2024 AGC.
Persistent concerns about the privacy and use of speed camera data have made it difficult to get the approval of technology as a means of fulfilling the safety of the work area. For example, a bill that proposed the use of safety speed cameras in the work areas could not advance in the most recent session of the Texas legislature, although the measure would have required the driver’s appointments to be issued on the site by a police officer, more than a third -party system operator. Another bill was approved to require the safety of the work area in the State Conducting Education Program, and since then it has been signed by Governor Gov. Greg Abbott (R).
AGC’s work area security study was based on a national survey of motorway construction companies in April and May 2025 by the HCSS Construction Software Association. More than 600 contractors participated in the survey.
Points pursue assisted safety ideas for technology
State transport agencies are exploring other ways in which technology can increase conventional approaches to alert motorists to the presence of construction work areas. As part of your accelerating digital inspection practices with the connected machinery project (ADCMS), the Delaware Dept. Of Transport (DELDOT) has collaborated with local road contractors and technology providers on sharing ways of sharing telematic data collected from construction equipment of the work area with systems that support navigation of vehicles such as car maps.
Deldot Cassidy Blowers’ building resource engineer explains that the system is designed to automate notifications based on a quick configuration at the start of a project. “From that moment on, normal work processes trigger automated notifications,” he says. “These notifications are currently integrated with the exchange of data from the Waze and FHWA work area.”
Blowers adds that the points in Louisiana, Iowa and Nebraska are also experimenting with the ADCMS platform, which had been implemented in 26 projects in October 2024: “We are working to encourage additional states to take advantage of it,” he says.
The Pilot Multiestate Project to evaluate the application of Haulhub Material Delivery Tickets has evolved to a complete effort to keep track of all the heavy teams of the state-owned motorway jobs through the telematic on board and the advanced data processing, he said in a presentation at the Futurech d’ER conference, held on May 6-7 in San Francisco.
“The telematics is there and, fortunately, for us as a point, there is an ISO specification for information information … and apply a very basic construction logic to make a safer place,” he said.
With the permission of contractors, Deldot draws data from the location and activity of the equipment and automatically generates digital notifications on active work areas for drivers and the rest of the public. “So what we ask for our contracting partners is to share this information with us, and then apply our logic in a simple way, to make the equipment active, we know that we have staff at the site, then we should notify the public.
He said the pilot gave rise to 600 connected construction equipment. He added that “we want to extend this information to not only a pavement, not only a roller, not only a material ticket, but also any equipment … We can take advantage of this information to obtain a security notification.”
But security is just the first step, and the Blowers agency is excited to use data throughout the state to rethink how to plan and stage projects, including low carbon footprints. “The factors of fuel use on carbon calculation, the impact of the project,” he said. “We are discussing with the OEMs, trying to lead the adoption of additional sensors … because we want to take advantage of this information and use it to facilitate our lives, not only for our own ends, but also for contractors. We want everyone to be on the same page.”
The Blowers added that AI could be a way to deal with the chronic shortage of skilled workers in the industry. “We are desperate by more people. We just can’t occupy positions. We need to make our inspectors more efficient for what we have.”
For example, AI could help teams manage the “data load” from the connected team. “We need to summarize it easily. We try to facilitate life for the inspector using all our different data sources (material ticket information, ticketing equipment data, traffic data, meteorological data) and we try to standardize the report,” he said. “We want our limited inspection staff to be more efficient and more consistent in reports.” The expected result would be reports that allow inspectors “instead of measuring what was done and calculated what was done, they can only verify what the team already says.”
The connection of construction equipment to autonomous vehicles is another possibility, how data is used to improve asset management. “One year ago, we did not have the ability to say,” Well, this drainage entry that should be installed in this location is installed [over] There … there was no way to put it in a latitude length that used them. We put it at a displaced station, and then a surveyor entered and did it. And that’s the double work, “he said as an example.” And we cannot ask for double work. We need something that benefits us and [contractors] At the same time. “
